One-Shot Series
by Darth Riven
Summary: It's just a series of one-shots set post-finale. (so it's sort of a Future Fic). Pairing: Rory/Tristin and Luke/Lorelai. Now taking request for unrelated one-shots.
1. Wedding in the Fall (Rory's POV)

**Wedding in the Fall (Rory's POV)  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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It was a typical New England autumn day as brown leaves lined the green lawns at the Dragonfly Inn. The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, but being autumn the weather was cool. In fact, a light breeze blew through the trees in the garden.

Looking into the garden, the rows of white chairs were set up and an arch framed the entryway from the inn building to the garden. A lone red carpet lay on the grass leading up towards an elaborate stage, all paid for by Hartford money.

The reverend stood already at the end ready to perform the marriage ceremony as the guests filed into the seats. The groom, with his groomsmen stood at the front waiting for the bride to arrive.

Rory Gilmore was sitting in the limousine taking the short ride from her family home in Stars Hollow to the Dragonfly Inn, where the wedding, her wedding to the man of her dreams was to take place. In the car with her sat, her mother, Lorelai Gilmore-Danes, her bridesmaids and bridesmatrons, including her matron-of-honour, Lane. The wedding dress, picked out from the boutique in New York had been a choice of her and her grandmother Emily, who now waited at the Inn for her.

Given that Lorelai was the constant in her life, in many ways, her only parent throughout her life, she had chosen her mother to walk her down the aisle. Yes, it was unconventional, but it also avoided the choice between her stepfather Luke, and her biological father Christopher who were both in attendance at the wedding.

As the limo pulled up to the front entrance of the Inn, the women inside looked one last time to each other before the ceremony would begin. The limo stopped and the door was opened by the driver. The bridesmaids hopped out, followed by the mother of the bride, and then, the bride herself. They entered into the inn and entered into the room reserved for the bride to get ready. Entering, the bridesmaids and bride checked their hair, make-up and dresses.

The wedding in the fall had called for a simple natural theme, the bridesmaids in deep blue, a contrast to the browns and greens of fall, and the white wedding dress. As Paris and Lane both exited the room, ready to walk down the aisle, Rory was left with alone with her mother.

"So," her mother said, "This is it, you're getting married to the love of your life."

Rory turned towards her mother, "yes, I am," she continued, "I thought I'd be nervous, but truthfully, I can't wait. And I couldn't think of a better person to give me away."

Lorelai smiled at her, "shall we, then, get ready to take that step." It had been Rory and herself for many years, yes Chris came here and then, and Luke had been around for a long time before she had married him, but a lot of the time it had just been the two of them, the Gilmore girls, and now, her daughter was getting married.

It was every mother's dream that their daughter would find love and be married to the perfect son-in-law, but it was also her fear, that Rory's first priority would have to be someone else, her husband and eventually their children.

Lorelai quickly pushed that thought aside, as she helped Rory rise, for the last time as Rory Gilmore, single woman. As she and Rory left the room, the wooden door closed behind them, a chapter of life over, but a new one beginning, with a son-in-law.

Rory watched as Paris walked down the aisle, her old room-mate at Yale, now medical school student, soon to be doctor. Rory saw her friend turn her head slightly, smiling at her husband, Doyle, as she made her way to the end of the aisle. She saw more than a few cameras flash as photos of the small intimate wedding ceremony were taken.

She then saw Lane, her matron-of-honour, walk down the aisle as the music continued to play slowly, filling the air with a beautiful sweet melody. It was soon to be her turn to make the final walk, with her mum at her side, down the aisle.

Lorelai and Rory made their way down the aisle, as the music reached its peak. Rory made her way, walking slowly, step by step, her face hidden by the veil of the wedding dress. The train of her dress followed her as she made her way down the aisle. She saw the people of Stars Hollow, her neighbour Babette, Lane's husband and children, Maury and many others. She saw her step-father Luke, as she made her way down the aisle. Emily and Richard, her grandparents and her father Chris Hayden, her half-sister Gigi, and his mother Francine were also in the wedding ceremony. Luke and his daughter April were both there as well. It was one of the rare times that she saw Luke out of his trademark backwards baseball cap and flannel shirt. She saw the groom's family, looking resplendent in their formal wear.

As she reached the end of the aisle, she saw her husband-to-be, his groomsmen and made her way to stand beside him. The reverend began to speak. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today," he said, "to join this man and this woman, in holy matrimony. If anyone here has a legitimate reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." The reverend allowed a small window of silence before continuing.

"Right," he stated, "the couple before us today have written their own vows. They will now recite the vows." Rory's eyes began to mist up as she heard her husband-to-be talk about how they first met, his undying love and devotion to her, and how he wanted nothing more than to make her happy. She saw the ring, the simple gold wedding band, now slipped onto her ring finger. She looked up into his eyes, and began to recite her own vows.

"When I first met you, I knew there was something about you that made me want to know you more," she continued, "in getting to know you, I found someone who I can share the rest of my life with, someone I love, more than anyone else in the world. We make each other whole." Lorelai's eyes teared up, as she heard Rory's vows. Her baby was really getting married.

As Rory finished, the Reverend began to speak, "then by the power vested in me, by the State of Connecticut, and before God, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Rory felt her husband lift her veil and as she stared into his loving eyes, his hands bought her head up towards his own. She saw love, reflected in his eyes, and he bought his lips down towards her own, capturing hers in a swift kiss. Even though the cheers resonated around her, it was like she and her husband were alone, in a world just for two.

And, as the kiss ended, the Reverend announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Mr and Mrs..." the end of the Reverend's words were lost in the loud applause and cheering, as the newly-weds began to call family up to the front for photos.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated. There are going to be about ten one-shots in this series, and then a special vignette._

_A/N2: It is deliberate that the groom's identity still remains unknown. His identity will be revealed in the second one-shot. This series will end with the Wedding from his POV. _


	2. A Lorelai's First Day at Work

******A Lorelai's first day at work**

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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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**Thanks to xshynenstarx, funfetti84, merdarkandtwisty, sharlene628 and acechica for your reviews. **

**To all the readers of this fic: Unfortunately, the author was bitten by an evil writing bug after posting the last chapter and decided to write something else that was not in the original plan rather than the grooms identity as stated previously; this is 'a Lorelai's first day at work' in the spirit of 'the Lorelai's first day at Chilton' and 'the Lorelai's first day at Yale'...although the groom is hidden somewhere in this chapter and you do also get introduced to someone who is really important to the groom.  
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**The author sincerely apologises to everyone who is waiting, and will reveal the identity of the groom in the next oneshot to be uploaded next week.  
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**By the way, there's a competition to help me come up with a better title than "One-Shot Series" for this fic. Please put any suggestions in reviews!  
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The alarm clocked sitting on the bedside table continued to beep incessantly, signalling the time for the current occupant of the bed, a brunette female to awake, for her first day at her new job at International News Tribune as a reporter.

Having just finished moving to her new apartment in New York, which had belonged to her grandparents but gifted to her when she finally scored the job, Rory fought the urge to fall back asleep. The time she had spent on the campaign trail following the Obama campaign in the primaries had come to an end, and she had settled down into a more permanent job.

Although she had learnt a lot from her experiences travelling around the United States, she still missed the creature comforts of having a permanent abode, instead of living out of her suitcase, which was what she did, when she was out reporting on the campaign trail. She had met some very nice people whilst on the trail, even had a friendly date with one of her fellow reporters on the trail, but she knew it would never work out so they had both stopped it after that one date.

Glancing over at the alarm clock she saw that it was almost eight in the morning, and she had to be at the office of the International News Tribune by nine. Hurriedly, she tossed off her pyjamas and went into the bathroom for a shower and to get ready for the morning.

Twenty minutes later she came out of the shower, dried her hair and began to put on her clothes. Out the door in another ten, she greeted the doorman of the apartment building as she hurried out into the busy New York streets. That left her thirty minutes to pick up a coffee and a danish pastry for breakfast and make her way to the office where she would be starting.

Dashing into the subway for the short two station ride to work she managed to stop by a coffee cart outside the International News Tribune building with ten minutes to spare. Quickly paying and inhaling the coffee that she had bought, she hurried into the pristine building.

The large foyer was full of people headed to work in the building. She saw a dark haired man and a red haired woman almost collide into one another in their hurry to get to the elevators. The International News Tribune occupied most of the floors of the building, but some of the floors had been sublet out to other businesses. Making her way to the receptionist at the front desk at the foyer she asked the receptionists to make the call upstairs to Liz Parker, who would be her mentor for the period of her probation at this job to come down and collect her and organise her building pass.

They had met briefly after she had been offered the job at one of the work functions that she had been invited to, but she had been interviewed by two of the more senior staff at the paper as well as someone from the human resources area.

Rory waited for a couple of minutes before being greeted by Liz, a tallish woman who she gathered was a couple of years older than her, with amused green eyes and dark chocolate coloured hair. "Rory," Liz greeted, "please follow me." Liz handed Rory a pass to allow them to get through the security gate so that they could access the lifts. "You need to keep that security pass on you whilst we arrange for a more permanent one. That allows you to get through the doors, so don't lose it."

The elevator dinged and the door opened, and the two women got into the elevator. Pressing level 25, the door closed after more people got in. The elevator ride up was quick, and the two ladies soon got off. In the elevator lobby of the twenty fifth floor a large sign which said International News Tribune adorned the wall directly opposite the elevators.

Liz put her security pass in the reader next to the door, and it opened. Motioning for Rory to follow they walked through a labyrinth of desks and areas until they got to a small area where Liz stopped and there were several other people waiting. "This is the team that reports on domestic politics." Rory was introduced to her fellow writers, the senior reporter in the team was Don, a middle-aged man who had worked on domestic politics reporting for twenty years. There was Liz and herself, as well as Mark, who also did the political opinion pieces for the paper.

Liz then took Rory to her desk, which was opposite Liz's own desk. "And this will be your desk," Liz stated. "Get settled and then I'll take you to meet the editing team and the rest of the staff that you will be working with."

Rory thanked her, and began to unpack a few of her things that she had bought with her to the office. There was a photo of herself and Lorelai, another photo of herself and Emily and Richard. A photo of her farewell party with the town of Stars Hollow before she had started on her first job with the online magazine.

There was a nice computer sitting on the desk as well, and a cupboard to store information and other things. Once she had settled into her desk, Liz popped over and took her to meet the rest of the staff that she would be closely working with. Then came the quick induction course that she had to do which was a corporate requirement.

As lunch time rolled around, Liz came again, and invited her with the rest of the reporting team to go to lunch. Stopping at a small diner close by, which Liz swore served the best burgers in New York, the team used the time to bond. She found out that Liz had a boyfriend, Charlie, who she had been dating for a little while, that Liz came from a middle-class family in upstate New York, and that she had a brother and a sister, both married.

Rory found out that Don was happily married to Julie, with two children under ten who went to a local small church-run private school. He had started out on the campaign trail like Rory before landing a job at the International News Tribune.

Mark she found out, had started at a paper owned by Mitchum Huntzberger, but had left when he had found the working environment there a little too toxic for his tastes. He also had a steady girlfriend who worked as a banker at Chase Manhattan.

Rory told the others a little about herself, how she had grown up in a small town in Connecticut, where everyone knew everyone in the town. How she had gone to high school in Chilton, and then into Yale even though she had always dreamed of going to Harvard. How she had graduated and worked for the online e-zine following the Obama campaign, about all of the people she had met and interviewed and written about in her travels until she had settled back down in New York.

As lunch finished, the team headed back up to the office, and Rory was given her first assignment, a small article to be done on the mayor's latest political announcement on proposed new laws on political donations. Rory headed down to the research area and began to look over the interview transcripts. There were then a few arranged interviews for comments from some prominent political donor groups that she had to do the next day. As she began to type on the computer the article started to take shape.

Soon, the evening rolled around, and Don and Mark both left, leaving Liz and Rory in the office. As Rory finished all she could do for the day, she saw that Liz was also packing up. Exiting the office together, Liz stated, "I think you'll fit in really well with us. Can't wait to see your first article for the paper."

"Thanks," Rory replied, "I'm really liking it here too." The elevator reached the ground floor, and they both walked into the foyer past the security gates, and Rory said goodbye to the concierge at the front desk. She exited the building along with Liz.

As she turned away, she saw a car pull up to the front of the building and a door open. Liz walked towards the car to get into it and Rory caught a glimpse of a blonde head inside the car. Rory waved a quick goodbye to Liz as the door of the car closed and it drove off, and headed back down into the subway for the short ride home. She would have a quick shower first before heading out to get some dinner before ringing home to Lorelai, as she would know her mother would expect her to.

Fifteen minutes later, she made her way up to her apartment, and took a quick shower, changing into some more casual clothes before making the decision to order delivery from a local Chinese which happened to be close by. She had tried the place once before, when she and Lorelai had moved all of her things in, and the Kung Pao chicken was quite nice.

The delivery man came twenty minutes later, just as she finished her phone call with Lorelai, with the food. Her mother of course, had enquired as to whether there were any hot guys at her new work, rather than asking how her day had been, or if the job was interesting. She replied that she had met a lot of people, but her fellow reporters in the team were all in relationships, and that she had just settled into her new place and a new job in New York and that she was busy. Lorelai had laughed of course.

Paying the delivery guy the requisite money for the food, Rory sat down and flicked on the TV. A show called Superspies was currently playing on TV. The female lead was currently flirting with a male spy, who she gathered was French from his accent. As she watched the show and ate, she gathered that they were friendly rivals and the bantering between the two characters proved to be quite entertaining for Rory. She liked the TV show, and it provided for some very good mocking as well with some of the absolutely unrealistic spy moves. Rory wondered if Lorelai watched this show as well. She would have to call her mother and tell her about it the next time they talked.

A yawn escaped Rory's mouth as she disposed of the takeaway containers in the bin, and she settled down for a last cup of coffee before going to bed.

Tomorrow was another day, and as she fell asleep she felt that she was going to really like her new job, and couldn't wait for the challenges that it would bring, professionally. What she didn't know was that this job would ultimately lead to the love of her life.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
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	3. And Return As A Man

******...And Return As A Man  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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**Thanks to xshynenstarx, MiguelCC51 and merdarkandtwisty for your reviews.  
**

**By the time you have read this sentence, you should have figured out who the mystery 'groom' is.  
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Rory Gilmore was running late for her double date and consequently, was in a mad panic. Her colleague, Liz Parker had convinced her to double date with her boyfriend Charlie, and his younger brother, who had flown out a day earlier from Stanford California, and when Charlie had called to cancel, Liz had instead roped Rory into double dating.

She only had 30 minutes to get ready as she did her make-up in the bathroom. Her dress was laying out on the bed of her apartment ready to wear and go. Her love life, since she had started her job at International News after her successful stint on the Obama campaign had amounted to almost zero, and so when the opportunity to date, just for one night came up, she had agreed to Liz's wheedling.

Once her make-up was done, she grabbed her dress, put it on, then her shoes, and keys and purse and left the apartment, making her way to the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria where they wee meeting for dinner at the Hotel's restaurant. Locking the door behind her, she made her way into a cab for the short ride to the hotel from her apartment in New York that Richard and Emily had gifted to her for her use when she had landed the permanent job.

Mercifully, the ride was short and after paying, she made her way into the hotel lobby and then to the restaurant. The maitre'd approached her as she went into the restaurant, and Rory greeted him and said, "reservations for four at seven, under the name of Parker."

The maitre'd replied, "of course, please follow me." Rory followed him towards the lounge where pre-dinner drinks were being served. Approaching the small table and lounge, she saw two glasses on the table, one red wine, the other a champagne flute. A man on a Blackberry seated, head down, typing, his golden locks cut in a shaggy haircut, a wavy golden mane, covering his head. She took in the man's looks as he sat there, in a suit that fit nicely on his lithe body. As his eyes turned upwards to meet hers, she saw his joyful, clear blue eyes meet hers.

She saw him smile a genuine smile, as he pocketed his Blackberry and he got up from the lounge where he was seated and held out his hand for her to shake. "Hi, I'm Charlie, Liz's boyfriend." Charlie said, a smile crossing his face after he saw the young lady who was undoubtedly TJ's date for tonight. He saw the girl's eyes drop slightly, seemingly disappointed. _I've still got it, _Charlie mused to himself.

Rory shook the hand that was proffered, and something clicked in her mind, the man before her looked familiar. "I'm Rory," she answered. As the gears in her mind clicked, she remembered where she had seen him. "Wait," she said, "I remember you from college. You're Charlie Todd. You played at the Rich Man's Shoe. Open Mic Night."

"You're a Yale graduate," Charlie said, "aren't you." Charlie Todd had been his stage name that he had used when he played at Yale.

"I remember, all the girls on the floor in Freshman Year loved to go Open Mic night and hear you sing," Rory said.

A sheepish smile crossed Charlie's face, "Yeah, it was a good time." Charlie smiled at the memory of his time at Yale. Open Mic night at the Rich Man's Shoe had been his release, where he had learned to let go of his feelings, his own escape after the big fight he had had with TJ at the end of senior year.

As they both took a seat, the waiter came across and asked Rory what she wanted to order. After she gave her answer she turned back to Charlie. "I remember," she said, "seeing you play once. That song, Brokenhearted. I loved that song."

"Oh," a startled look flashed across Charlie's face, "that's the one that TJ and I wrote together." TJ had written the lyrics, whilst Charlie had written the chords, back before their big fight at the end of Charlie's senior year at Duke. Charlie replied, "glad you liked it. You should tell TJ when he gets back. He'll be glad that people like the song."

"So what do you do?" Rory asked.

"Lawyer, at Blackwood and Whitestone," Charlie replied, "though eventually I'll go back to work at the family company once I get more experience." Blackwood and Whitestone was one of the top legal firms on Wall Street. Charlie said, "do you work with Liz?"

Rory said, "yes, just as a junior reporter, on the foreign correspondence desk, only started about 6 months ago." She continued, "so how's TJ like?"

Charlie smiled. "I'll leave TJ to tell you about himself," Charlie replied, his smile curling into a slight smirk. "He should be back soon. Suffice to say he thinks that he's a hotter, younger version of me," his tone was amused. He saw Rory perk up slightly when he had said that TJ thought he was a younger, hotter version of himself. "Of course, in my opinion he's wrong." Rory's drink arrived at that moment, an Charlie took another sip of his red wine. He saw TJ come back in and approach the table whilst Rory's back was to TJ. Rory took a sip of her drink as they waited at the table in comfortable silence.

"Teej," Charlie said, as he and Rory got up. Rory turned around and looked straight at the twenty four year old man approaching her. As their blue eyes met, she gasped in recognition. "Tristin," she breathed out. A couple of thoughts crossed her mind simultaneously. The song, Brokenhearted, her favourite song of Charlie's was about her. When she heard the song, it had been about a girl Mary who had broken heart of the boy who was the subject of the song. All the girls had loved the melancholic minor key and had thought that the song must have been about Charlie's ex-girlfriend who everyone, including Rory herself concluded must have been a cold-hearted minx. But now, she realised that Tristin and Charlie had written Brokenhearted about the girl who had broken Tristin's heart...and that when she had agreed that the girl from the song Mary, had been a cold-hearted minx, she was actually passing judgement on herself.

The second thing she realised was, that in her mind, Tristin was a younger, hotter version of his older brother. The third, she had no idea how he would react to her, but she knew she couldn't run any more, she had grown up too much while on the campaign trail away from Lorelai and the comfort of Stars Hollow. She wasn't that sixteen year old Chilton girl any more.

Tristin Dugray had just finished his phone conversation with his friend, Eddy Crossman, who was back in California. The filming for the TV series Superspies, on which he was a recurring character, had finished a day earlier and he had been able to catch an earlier flight out to New York to meet Charlie before they would go up to the Hamptons for a camping weekend with their oldest brother Lucas.

Of course, he hadn't been so enthusiastic about being dragged out on a double date with Charlie and his girlfriend Liz, but Charlie had always, since the end of his junior year in High School been protective of TJ. He had come back into the hotel lounge after finishing his call and had made his way back towards his older brother. As he approached the table, he saw that a woman was sitting at the lounge with Charlie, her back to him. She was a brunette and wore a simple black dress that hugged her figure, accentuating the right places. Definitely not Liz, who was taller. He supposed that this was his date.

When TJ had rung his brother to say that he was coming out earlier than expected, Charlie had immediately stated that he was going to cancel his date with Liz, and that the two of them would hang out at the pub. But then Liz had convinced Charlie to drag TJ on a double date with her female co-worker. And so, TJ had relented, knowing his brother worked long hours and hardly spared time for dates.

He got to the lounge and he saw the woman, rise and turn towards him. As their eyes met, he instantly recognised the woman, even after the intervening years, the girl that had had such an effect on him, all those years ago at Chilton. He saw her gasp as recognition passed through both their clear blue eyes. "Mary," the name, unbidden crossed his lips before he could help himself. He saw his brother's eyes flash in recognition of the girl from Chilton as soon as he breathed the name. The name of the girl who had stolen his heart without knowing it and broken it.

Charlie heard his brother's soft voice say that fateful name. The name of the girl that his brother TJ had been hung up on throughout high school. The girl who had in Charlie's opinion, caused TJ to be sent to military school. The girl who had hurt him in an unimaginable way. In a twisted kind of way, if it hadn't been for her, the three Dugray brothers would not have been so close as they were now, but he was afraid that TJ would be hurt once more by this girl. For now, he would observe and step in if needed.

The Tristin Dugray that stood before Rory now was no longer the lost little boy that had been shipped off to military school. His muscles were more defined, a body that Rory could tell was well looked after. Unlike Charlie, TJ's hair was worn in a short cut, she surmised that it had not changed much since military school.

As ever, his features looked like it could belong on the big screen of a Hollywood blockbuster. However, what had changed most was his eyes, no longer leering, or arrogant, they were the eyes of a self-assured man, a man who knew who he was, and his place in the world, at ease with whatever his circumstances could be.

She could feel her own emotions welling up inside her, Charlie had been right, TJ was a younger, hotter version of Charlie himself, at least in her estimation. She finally found her voice, "well, how are you Tristin," she said, smiling, "long time no see."

Tristin quickly gathered himself together, it had been years since he had seen his 'Mary', since junior year in high school at Chilton. A long time had passed since then, and he had changed, been through a lot of life changing experiences. He gave her a genuine smile, and said, "It's nice to see you also. It's been so long." As the trademark Dugray smirk made its way across his face he said, "I gather you're my surprise date tonight."

He walked over to her, and gave her a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek. He could see Charlie, in the corner of his eyes, worried, because he knew how much his high school 'Mary', who had broken his heart, had done to him, what had happened at military school. He gave Charlie a silent nod, indicating he was okay. Charlie returned a smile indicating he understood. Charlie turned to Liz, who had just arrived, as the waiter came over, and bought them towards their table.

Rory whispered to Liz as they excused themselves to go to the bathroom as they headed to the dinner table, "you didn't tell me that your boyfriend was a Dugray." Charlie Todd from Yale's Open Mic Night, was a Dugray. "I knew your boyfriend from Yale, he called himself Charlie Todd at Yale."

Liz replied, "yeah, that was his stage name when he played music, Todd's his middle name," as they entered the bathroom door, "so what if my boyfriend's a Dugray?" she asked. Liz believed that she dated a person for who they were, not for their last name.

"I went to Chilton with Charlie's brother," Rory answered. "my surprise date."

"So then you two must have known each other," Liz said. "At least it won't be totally awkward. You'll have a lot to talk about."

Rory sighed as she checked her make up in the mirror, washing her hands, "except for the fact that he and I never got along at Chilton, and that he tried to get me to date him by pestering me incessantly. You know, he dubbed me Mary, after the Virgin Mary," She turned off the tap and continued, "but, he does seem to be a lot more mature now. I could see it in his eyes." _And he is a piece of eye candy_, she added to herself.

Liz laughed, "Charlie told me about those biblical insults thrown around at private school," as she finished checking her make-up as well, "you know, maybe things will be different this time, as you said, he's probably changed. You owe it to yourself to see, to have some fun, Lord knows you haven't dated much since you started the job." The two ladies exited the bathroom together, making their way to the dinner table.

As they rejoined the two men at the table, menus were passed around and they ordered the food. After the waiter had taken their orders the four broke off into conversation.

Rory asked Tristin what had happened after he had left Chilton. Military school he said, was hard, but he had met some of his closest friends there, some of them who had gone on to join the army. After that he had graduated from Cedar Pines, he had gone to Stanford for college, full time for the first year where he had made lots of new friends, but then part time since then, after he had relocated to LA after he had been been discovered by some Hollywood director whilst he was staying with his friend Eddy Crossman in LA, and had been cast on the TV show, Superspies, on ABC, where he played a recurring character who was sometime romantic interest and rival of the main character, Alexis Graham. Rory said she loved the show, especially the French spy, he was so mockable for the accent, and adorable at the same time. Tristin laughed, "I knew you couldn't resist me, Mary," and said that was the character that he played on the show. Rory's face turned beet red after that comment. The show had just finished shooting and had broken up for the season. Every so often he would help out with the family business working for his older brother Lucas. Consequently, he was still in his final year of College though he was close to finishing.

Rory talked about Chilton after he had left, leaving out her dating Dean and Jess, how she and Paris had formed a friendship at Chilton after he had left, being room mates with Paris at Yale even though both of them had dreamed of going to Harvard, they laughed about Paris's breakdown on national TV where she blamed sex for not getting into Harvard. She talked about Logan, Colin and Finn as her friends at Yale, and then how she had worked as a reporter on the Obama campaign trail for the primaries against Clinton, and then had landed a job at International News in New York, keeping the topics away from her romantic life like he had. To her it was just like two old friends, who could possibly be something more, reconnecting after a long time away from each other.

The food came soon after, and dinner was followed by post-dinner drinks. As Tristin kissed Rory good-bye, she slipped him her business card, telling him to call her, so that we can catch up in more detail she said, she slipped into the cab. Tristin smiled, as he shut the door behind her, and watched the cab drive off. Turning around, he and Charlie took another cab back to Charlie's New York apartment where they would have to pack for the weekend camping trip.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_

_A/N2: Just in case you missed it - the groom was the French Spy on the TV show, Superspies that Rory was watching in the last one-shot, and the blonde head in the car that picked Liz up from the office was the person who was important to the groom.  
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_A/N3: The next two one-shots focus do not focus on Rory though she will be mentioned in both of them.  
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	4. A Dugray Boys Weekend

**********A Dugray Boys Weekend**

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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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**Thanks to CopperboomLulu for your review. I also love a good Trory. To me they remind me of the famous literary couples James and Lily Potter, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.  
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**So how many of you guessed this was a Trory? Tell me what you think in the reviews.  
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Three men set off from New York promptly at 9am in the morning in a nondescript SUV and headed through the New York traffic towards the Hamptons for a fun filled weekend, away from friends and family.

This had been happening since the youngest of the three, in the SUV, TJ had been a freshman at college, all the way across in Stanford University, California. During the holidays, they would always spend a weekend away together.

It was especially hard for Lucas, now that he was a father of a newborn son, Matthew "Matt" Connor Dugray, who he had left with Serena, his wife, and the staff at their Manhattan apartment, but this was a regular getaway that he, Charlie and TJ always took. It was where they would reconnect with each other, away from the distractions of work, studies, family, girlfriends and wives.

It was the middle brother, Charlie, that was driving as they headed out of New York City into the Hamptons. There was a camping gear, three tents and other things packed in the back of the SUV, heading towards Cedar Point County Park, where they would enjoy an isolated weekend away from civilisation.

As the SUV pulled up to the campsite, the three brothers unloaded the tents, and the other gear that they had taken with them, and then locked the car. It had been TJ, through his experiences at military school that had suggested that they do a camping trip together as a way of leaving their worlds behind and connecting again as brothers.

Long ago, when Lucas had left for college, at Harvard, the three brothers had started to drift apart, especially as things between their parents, Jason and Emma, had gotten worse. Charlie had withdrawn into himself, shutting his parents and everyone else out, self-sustaining and pouring himself into his studies and music at Chilton and then his freshman year at College at Harvard, without noticing that, TJ, the youngest, who had been barely a teen at the time was suffering and began to act out to seek attention and affection that had suddenly gone missing, culminating in TJ 's exile by his father to military school and everything that had happened there which lead to their eventual reconnection.

And it had partly been caused by one Miss Rory Gilmore, who had just walked back into TJ's life, by pure chance. Pure chance that shooting on Superspies had finished a day early and he had caught an earlier flight out. Pure chance that Charlie had a date with his girlfriend that night and wanted to cancel on account of TJ's arrival. Pure chance that Charlie's girl worked with Miss Rory Gilmore who had agreed last minute, to double date.

This weekend, Charlie was sure, that talk of Rory Gilmore would feature heavily in the three brothers' time together. After all, Brokenhearted, the song penned by TJ and Charlie was all about her. As they arrived at the campsite, the three brothers began to set up, firstly by pitching the tents, and then by starting a fire in the pit that was provided in the camp grounds. By now, the local park ranger, if he came to check at all knew that they were there, and would usually tell the others to steer clear. He knew that the three men valued their time together, away from the rest of the world.

Once the fire was going and producing a nice steady heat, the three Dugray brothers got ready to roast marshmallows and more importantly, catch up on their busy lives.

The oldest brother, Lucas Scott Dugray was now Chief Executive Officer of Dugray Global Industries, the family company and he was responsible, along with their father, Jason, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, for the multi-billion dollar company ever since Janlen Dugray had passed away. As the oldest son, and heir, he had always known and accepted how Hartford society was and what he needed to do. He had known from an early age what he was expected to be, and so he followed that path, and made the best of his situation, whatever it was. In his mind, rebelling against something that was inevitable wasn't worth the fight. He found happiness where it could be found.

That had culminated in his marriage to his wife, Serena, in the eyes of his father, a business merger between an industrial conglomerate and one of the best private financial investment firms in the US. In his and Serena's perspective, it was a marriage based on love, for he knew that he was lucky to find someone that he loved who was also of society, and they had recently been blessed with little Matthew Dugray, a beautiful blonde haired green-eyed baby.

Their father, Jason Dugray was a career man whose sole goal in life was to make money. He had been Janlen's second son, and when his older brother, Jonathan had perished, without heir in a car crash, it was left to Jason to take over the family company. He had never really gotten over trying to prove himself competing against a dead older brother, and he had buried himself in work, making as much money possible for the company, to, in his mind, validate his position. This had of course, caused the lack of relationship between him and his wife and sons.

As they sat around the campfire, it was TJ that told Lucas of the re-entrance of one Rory Gilmore into his life. Lucas had been a bit fuzzy about the details when Tristin had been sent away to military school and why it had happened, at least until Charlie had moved down to North Carolina and told him why. But in Lucas's mind, this could be a good thing. Lucas smiled, as he heard that Rory had had a great time with TJ. "So," he said, "she wants to see you again. That's good."

"Yeah," TJ replied, "she does, and we exchanged numbers and emails. She works at the domestic politics news desk at the International News Tribune."

Charlie took a bite of his roasted marshmallow as he interjected, "with Liz." Lucas remembered, Charlie's girlfriend, his first serious girlfriend since he had graduated from Yale Law.

"So," Lucas continued, "the big question is, do you think that you want to date her, like you did back in High School?"

Charlie said, "by the way that she ogled me, and then him," he laughed, as he continued, "I would say she definitely wants him, physically. Whether Teej thinks that he and her can connect emotionally and intellectually is another matter." They all remembered TJ's teenage years, or at least what had gone around the gossip circles of Hartford. TJ had not been one to look for emotional or intellectual compatibility with girls at that age.

"That's not the question, Charlie," Lucas stated, "it's more in TJ's corner now. It's about what he wants to do."

TJ sat quiet, reflecting on the question Lucas had posed. Lucas was the big brother and protector of his younger siblings, including TJ. TJ knew that Lucas was looking out for TJ's heart when he asked his question. Both Lucas and Charlie knew that TJ's heart had already been broken once by this girl, when she had declared in the Chilton courtyard that she had hated him. The question for TJ was, did he want to take the risk that she might break his heart once more? "I don't really know," he said, "I've learned to survive on my own without her, and while I know her and I together would be an added bonus to a good life, if she really liked me, there are a few things that could get in the way, though, like the fact that I'm studying all the way across the other side of the country."

"That's all right," Charlie said, "if you want to go for it, then do so. If you don't want to then don't." Charlie remembered for the first time, back in High School, at Chilton and then at military school, where TJ had been affected by Miss Rory Gilmore. He remembered getting the phone call at home on Spring Break in his junior year at Harvard. He had received the phone call from the military school, saying that TJ had slit his own wrists so badly that he was in hospital. Charlie had known that TJ hadn't returned for Christmas break in his junior year, as punishment for breaking into the safe, it had still been too raw in his father's mind. But he never knew it had gotten that bad. After talking with Lucas, he had made a deal with his father to transfer down to Duke University, to be closer to TJ.

It had only been when Charlie had got down to North Carolina that he realised how bad everything had been over the past few years. Seeing TJ in hospital with wires and IV's had opened his eyes to how bad home life had become. He remembered TJ waking and seeing him sitting there beside him in the hospital. TJ's eyes had suddenly looked shocked to see him, to see someone in his family sitting next to him.

The next year and a bit, Charlie and TJ had lived in North Carolina before their huge fight and Charlie's enrolment in Yale Law School, and TJ's escape to Stanford, California. But before that, he had heard the whole story from TJ, about how he had tried to get Rory to go out with him, and how she had declared that she had hated him, and run off with her then Bag Boy boyfriend. He had heard how that had affected TJ so deeply that he had started running with Bowman and Duncan, who everyone in Hartford knew were never going to amount to anything much more than brats who would live off their parents money. It had taken long hours of talking to convince TJ that he shouldn't let the fact that Rory Gilmore had said that she hated him affect him at all and that he was a person who was worth loving and that TJ should grow and change for the better not to impress her, but for himself.

"She wants to see you again," Charlie repeated, "have a bit of fun. If it works out then great for you, you'll get the girl that you really like. You know, you're lucky you found someone so quickly, even if it did take you years to deflate your ego. If you weren't the arrogant 'King' of Chilton you would have had her earlier." Laughter rang around the campfire at the joke.

"Hey," TJ replied, "both of you were 'Kings' of Chilton before me." The Dugray boys had each 'ruled' Chilton Academy in their younger days.

"But for different reasons," Lucas said. "You were the one who got your kingship for your 'dating' abilities." For Lucas, the title of 'king' had come naturally, as heir to Dugray Global Industries, captain of the basketball team, and being the general all-round golden boy. Charlie had followed, the mysterious and aloof King, king because everyone knew not to piss him off, king because the girls thought he was a modern day Mr Darcy and secretly wanted him, yet he didn't ever give many of the girls the time of day. He was fiercely protective of those that he cared for, seen in the nasty streak that came out of Charlie some times, when his friends or other important people in his life were threatened. The girl that had broken his best friend's heart had effectively been exiled until she graduated after the damaging rumours about her had turned out to be true.

TJ was the school's notorious playboy, known for his way with the ladies and being the life of the party. It had been his way of dealing with his parents crumbling marriage, his father sleeping with his secretary and the maids, his mother off with the fitness instructor and gardener thinking that they could hide the truth. So he had sought attention from elsewhere, and being a Dugray, and good looking, there was plenty of shallow love from the crowd at school, and the girls. It was no replacement for true love though.

At Chilton, he had wanted Rory's attention, because she was someone that was real, someone who had no use for the Hartford Society mask. She had been reality in a sea of falsehood, and he wanted to experience and feel something real. Of course, she had seen him nothing more than a big-headed jerk who wasn't worthy of her attention. It had hurt that she couldn't see that he liked her, and when she said she hated him, it was a proverbial dagger to his heart, leading him to think that no one cared about or loved him. After all, if someone real, like Rory, who showed real emotions could say that she hated him, he thought, he mustn't really be loveable at all. Inevitably, when it came to reality and real feelings, he would only get hate. In the summer before junior year, he had tried to date to get over her, but he ended up dumping each of the girls before they realised that he wasn't loveable, that all he could do was make people hate him.

He'd fallen in with Duncan and Bowman that summer, they had been losers like he was, pathetic like he had thought himself to be. He found that he was looking for more real attention and had he thought by pulling stunts and getting caught it would force his parents to care, force his family to care, but all it had done was land him in military school, and the lowest point of his life. At military school, no one cared and that was what happened, he had slipped into a spiral of depression, he continued to think he was unlovable and only deserving of hatred. It was what he told himself as to why his parents had put him in military school, because they didn't want to waste their time or love on an unlovable, unwanted child. He had thought at the time, neither Lucas or Charlie cared as well, both off at college, and from what his parents said, doing well.

And then, after the incident, Charlie had moved to Duke and took care of TJ, making him slowly realise that he was loved. He remembered turning his life around in senior year, as his heart began to heal. Charlie had spent almost every weekend with TJ, tutoring him for SAT's and to catch up from the work from the previous years that had been missed or not learnt. Sometimes they would go off campus and just pretend that they were orphaned brothers living by themselves. He had never heard from his parents or Lucas in those years.

His life turned around, he made real friends with the other cadets, and as he began to find discipline, he went from just scraping pass marks in class to the top. The commanders started to take notice of his improved work and it seemed that things were easier when he had something to strive for. By the time, SAT's came around, he had managed a mark high enough for him to be accepted at Stanford, Yale and Harvard. He knew that Charlie had planned to go to Yale Law School, to study environmental law and TJ wanted to choose Yale to follow his brother, close as they were at that time.

The day he got his acceptance letter from Yale he had got permission to go off base and he wanted to surprise his brother with the news. That day, was the day of their big fight, when he had found out that Charlie had made a deal with their father, in return for Charlie going to Duke, he would report on TJ's progress and Charlie would go to Yale Law, graduate, work at Blackwood and Whitestone before joining DGI as its chief legal counsel once he had enough experience.

When TJ had overheard, he had felt betrayed in the worst way possible, and the result of their fight was that Charlie and TJ didn't speak for more than half a year, TJ going to Stanford and cutting all contact with his family, until the day that Lucas showed up at his dorm his wife's Vogue magazine in hand, open at the page where TJ had been in an Armani advertisement.

His first words were "you know Charlie's buried himself in his work, won't talk or see anyone. Just works and plays at the pub at Open Mic Night. Every song he plays is sad. He wanted to be with you, we both knew that you were suffering, so he made a deal with dad so that he could help you, and you blow up at him and come here. TJ, you hurt him badly."

When TJ had recovered from the shock of being found, he and Lucas had had a long talk. Before leaving, Lucas had said, "by the way, this is my wedding invitation, I want you to be one of my groomsmen, along with Charlie." After that, the three Dugray brothers had become closer than they had in more than twelve years, which had turned into their every-so-often camping trips.

Today was therefore quite momentous, as Rory Gilmore, inadvertently the catalyst for all of these events had just walked back into TJ's life, the girl that the song Brokenhearted, had been about, and now TJ had a choice to make. His brothers were the closest people in his life now, and he wanted their thoughts. "I say you go for it," Lucas said, "what harm can happen, you've matured a lot since High School, and if it doesn't work out then it doesn't. As least you tried, and experienced what you wanted to."

"This coming from the Golden Boy," Charlie replied, "who had the perfect High School sweetheart he married. Take it from someone who's been broken up with, not someone who fell in love at the first go. You've got to think it through, and be careful with your heart." Charlie had had a girlfriend when he was at Duke but when he had moved to Yale Law School, she hadn't followed and they had broken up. He had fancied himself in love then, but now, perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, he may not have been.

Charlie took a bite of the marshmallow he was roasting on the campfire. "So it's really up you you what you want. What do you think is best for you right now?"

"So really," TJ replied, as he took a bite of his white marshmallow, "you have no answer." Lucas laughed.

"Yeah," Lucas said, "just do what you think it best for you. Sometimes love's like that, it's a journey into the unknown. Maybe you'll get lucky."

TJ sat there, taking another bite out of his roasted marshmallow. He had to reflect on what he wanted in life. This time, the ball was in his court, and he wanted to make the right choice.

The rest of the weekend passed without much other incident. Lucas showed the latest pictures of baby Matthew, and they hung out, relaxed, before the drive back to the New York City late Sunday afternoon.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
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_A/N2: The next one-shot uploaded (tentatively named Emergency) will contain an example of self-harm. Please don't read it if you are sensitive to this issue or have had thoughts about self-harming.  
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	5. Emergency

**Emergency**

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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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**Thanks to the guests for their reviews. Also thanks to Adrianiforever and Realityorfiction for your reviews.  
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**This is a flashback one-shot back to Junior Year Spring Break after Tristin left Rory and Chilton.  
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**IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE **

**This following chapter contains references to self-harm and contains an instance of this. **

**Please do not read on if you are at squeamish or easily disturbed or at risk of emotional, mental or psychological problems. **

**This one-shot is rated M. Please proceed to read this one-shot at your own risk.  
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**Otherwise, if you decide to read on, I hope you enjoy reading this one-shot.  
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Tristin Dugray sat alone on his bed in the sparse room at Cedar Pines Military School. Currently, it was Spring Break, but as his father had made abundantly clear, Tristin was not allowed back at all to Hartford until he graduated, including summer holidays. Cedar Pines had accepted a generous donation from his father to make sure that he got into no trouble over the holidays. Whilst Tristin had never really needed his parents, once he had hit his early teens, it still hurt that he was in effect exiled from everything and everyone that mattered to him, especially his grandfather Janlen who was the only one in his family to show him any love for a long time.

His brother Lucas had left for Harvard when Tristin was barely in his teens and never really came back home to visit, spending his time with long time girlfriend Serena and at work learning the ropes at Dugray Global Industries.

Charlie had left for college as well, four years after Lucas, but spent his time cocooned in his own world when he returned to Hartford for the holidays, preferring to spend time with friends, or mostly in his room with his guitar when he was in the house. Tristin knew that Charlie had deliberately went and made friends outside of Hartford as his own form of rebellion against their parents.

Neither of them really spent time with Tristin any more. He was sure they just viewed him just as someone who they lived with, like Tristin viewed his parents, not worthy of time and love.

As he lay there pondering in the spare time he had now, he thought back to when he had first arrived at Cedar Pines Military School. Everything had been so different to what he was used to. He had never been self-reliant, and had never had to do any of the mundane things of life for himself. He remembered that he had been in trouble so much at the beginning. The teachers and drill sergeants did not give any mercy if you were late, or your work or chores or performance in drills were not up to scratch. Tristin had found himself doing extra drills, or extra chores a lot at the beginning, at least for the first three, four months until he had caught up physically to the others. A good side effect was that he looked better than ever, his muscles had become more defined through all of that extra military drills and chores.

Sometimes on the weekend, the students would be let out to the town, always on best behaviour though. Having nothing else to do, he wandered out into the recreation room, and switched the large television that the school had on. The news channel was playing.

As he looked at the screen, he saw a funeral being attended by many. The TV news reader said, "yesterday, the funeral of prominent American industrialist, Janlen Dugray was attended by many mourners in Hartford, Connecticut." Tristin stared at the TV in shock, his grandfather's funeral had been yesterday and no one had told him.

His grandfather, his favourite member of the family was dead, and no one had told him. He would have wanted to go to the funeral if he had known. He was sure that his father would have let him go back for the funeral. Shutting the TV off, he walked almost automatically to the Commander's office, _Now there's no one left who cares_, he thought to himself, as he allowed a tear to fall down his right cheek. Hastily he wiped the errant tear away before knocking on the door. He had to fight his emotions, there was no tears in military school.

"Come in," Commander Washington stated, as the door opened. Tristin saw that the commander was looking over some paperwork. When he saw Tristin's face, even the military poker face that he had developed dropped in sadness. The commander could guess why Tristin was here. He could see the pain on Tristin's face and he felt sorry that he had to add to it. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said.

He knew what Tristin wanted, that was to go home and say goodbye to his grandfather, but he couldn't let that happen. Tristin was still legally a minor, and he was legally bound to obey Jason Dugray's wishes. And Jason had rung up before and said that Tristin was not allowed home, not even for his grandfather's funeral.

"I can't," the commander replied, "your father already rang and said you can't go home. For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Dugray, but I am legally obliged to follow your father's wishes."

Tristin's face hardened when he heard what the commander said, "then there is nothing to do. Good day, sir," he replied. He wanted nothing more to get out of there, and when he heard the dismissed, he basically ran all the way back to his room, before anyone else could see him break down.

Tristin sat alone on his bed trying to process what had happened. His favourite family member was dead, and he hadn't been allowed to attend the funeral. Tears began to run down his face freely. After about ten minutes of sobbing, he had to clean himself up in the bathroom.

When he saw his face in the mirror, the boy who looked back at him was broken, a mess. He saw how pathetic he really was. What his father had said, what Rory had said came back. All of them thought he was pathetic and useless.

_He remembered back at the end of the sophomore year, when he had wanted to go with Rory to PJ Harvey, back when he had thought that she had liked him. "You're pathetic, Tristin. Keep the books," she had said. When the bag-boy had that had broken her heart had shown up, she had shouted so loud that half the courtyard could hear that she, Rory Gilmore, hated Tristin and that she loved the bag-boy even though he had broken up with her and hurt her. He never would have hurt her. The words had pierced his heart. The one person who he knew was unafraid to speak her mind and tell the truth had declared that he was hated. He knew then and there, that he wasn't loveable. No one could love him. _

_And then they had been put together in junior year, for that Romeo and Juliet play. "You make it impossible for anyone to be nice to you. No wonder you had to join our group. Anyone who's actually suffered through the experience of going out with you would absolutely know better." She had driven another dagger through his heart. She hadn't changed her opinion of him, really, even though she had pretended to make nice as if she cared, earlier that week. It had confirmed for him again, that he was just undeserving of real love. All he deserved was scorn and hate. _

_He remembered what his father had said when he had been caught stealing from Bowman's dad's safe. For goodness sake, Bowman had the key. Why else would an adult give their son the key to their safe if not to allow access. But his father hadn't bothered with that explanation. He had just told Tristin that he was pathetic, why couldn't he stay out of trouble, why couldn't he be like Lucas or Charlie who were successful, hard-working and didn't break the law. "Why did God inflict a rotten child like you on me," his father had raged. "All you know is how to spend my money, drag our family name through the mud, and bed those sluts. You're useless to the company and therefore useless to this family." He had then said that he was sending Tristin to military school in North Carolina. "I don't want to see you until you become a responsible man."_

His mother was always at her DAR functions busy with her friends and their 'cause of the week', his brothers Lucas and Charlie were off on their own at work and college, living their own lives, probably all quietly laughing at how pathetic he was. Lucas and Charlie were both such good Dugray children, successful in everything that they attempted. Lucas had been an all-state basketball player and in the top five academically at Chilton, Charlie had been valedictorian at Chilton for his year. Success seemed to come so easy to them, whereas Tristin felt he could do nothing right.

He rammed his fist into the mirror, as it shattered, jagged pieces of glass flying onto the floor. As his opened the tap to clean his bloody, raw knuckles, he began to pick up the pieces of glass, to throw them into the bin, knowing that he was in trouble. A stray thought ran through his mind, _who cares if I'm in trouble. The one person who loved me is gone_. He stopped and sank down to the floor, numb from the dull pain of losing the only person who had ever loved him. He didn't know how much time passed, but the pain did not subside, as much as he wanted to. He squeezed his right hand into a fist, forgetting that he still held a piece of glass in it. It started to bleed, and the pain of his grandfather's death was replaced temporarily with the pain of the glass cutting his hand.

The jagged piece of glass he had picked up in his right hand, brought down to his left forearm, turning it so that it was palm up, even though his right palm was bleeding, he clutched the shard between his fingers. He ran the jagged edge of glass over his arm, and he hissed quietly, as a cut opened up, weeping blood. _Yes_, he thought, as the pain of his grandfather's death was replaced by this new raw pain. But as his body began to heal, and the sharp pain of the initial cut dulled, he felt the pain of his grandfather's death hit him again. He had to get rid of it, so he drew the shard across his arm again, rewarded once more as the new raw and intense pain replaced the dull ache of missing Janlen.

As the pain from each cut subsided, he drew the jagged piece of glass over his skin again, wanting to feel anything but the pain of his father's death. On and on it went, a new weeping line of red over his forearms. As he began to lose more blood, everything began to fade to black but the pain had subsided now, to a dull throbbing.

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Charlie had been home for the holidays, and for his grandfather's funeral, from Harvard when he heard a phone ring in the house as he passed through the hallway into the kitchen. Picking the phone up, he listened as the voice on the other end said, "I'm looking for Mr Jason Dugray, I haven't been able to reach his office or his cellphone."

"May I know who's calling," Charlie had asked. "Why are you calling?"

"I'm looking for Mr Jason Dugray," the speaker reiterated. He could hear something strange in her voice, she talked after a long pause as if she were trying to think of what to say. "It's an emergency."

"I'll pass the message on to him, I'm his son, Charlie," he replied, "just let me get a pen." He grabbed a convenient pen and paper.

"I need to tell him personally," the speaker said, as she rattled off a return telephone number. "He'll know what it is about. Thanks." The lady on the other end of the phone hung up before Charlie could get a chance to enquire any further. The lady on the other end of the phone hadn't told him anything about the purpose of the call except that his father would know.

Well, he had the only clue in his hand right now, the telephone number. Turning back and going to his room, he booted up his computer as he put the phone number into Google. The search results came up empty. He tried the telephone directory website as well, but that also came back empty handed. He sat and thought about what else he could do. The only other thing he could think of was to call the number back from a public payphone or something like that.

Leaving the message on his father's desk, as his father wouldn't be back until late tonight, he was probably still in the air flying from Europe, he put on a jacket, and headed down towards the closest Hartford Mall. Taking his BMW and driving down, he executed a perfect park in the space and proceeded to find the closest payphone.

Dialling the number, he heard the ring, ring of the phone. He heard, "Cedar Pines Military School, this is Natalie speaking." He hung up abruptly, shocked. Cedar Pines Military School, what the heck was his father getting a call from a Military School for, and one at home as well. He rushed straight back home and logged onto the internet again and searched for Cedar Pines Military School.

The website that was bought up stated that the school was in North Carolina for high school aged students. Military school, Charlie thought, why would his dad have anything to do with military school, the only high school aged person in his family was Tristin, and he was away in Europe at boarding school in England. Unless his father had a secret child somewhere from an affair, but that was unlikely, he still remembered that his parents hadn't begun to fight until about ten years ago, so having a high school aged child in military school was unlikely.

He would have to ask his father or, as he thought as he lay on his bed, he could call back and pretend to be his father. Though he would need to moderate and lower his voice. Picking up the phone, he redialled the number. Once he had heard the introduction, he said, in a disguised deep voice, "this is Jason Dugray, returning your call. My son gave said it was an emergency."

"Let me put you through to Commander Washington," he heard the receptionist say. The hold music started to play, a military march. Charlie scoffed, _how predictable_, in his mind, as he waited.

"Mr Dugray," he heard the voice of a man, definitely sounding like a military man. "We regret to inform you that your son, Tristin is in hospital. He's been sedated. You need to make the medical decisions." As Charlie heard those words he could barely hold his emotions in. "Thank you for telling me," he said, as his voice broke a little. Charlie put down the phone.

What the hell was Tristin doing in military school, and in hospital. His father had told everyone that he was in boarding school in England. Part of him wanted to fly down straight away to North Carolina, but then what would that do. He had no power to do anything. No, he would have to wait for his father.

As he stewed over what he was going to say as he took his dinner, with his mother, he wasn't even sure if she knew that Tristin was in Military School. His dad could have easily fed the lie to everyone, after all he was such a practised liar. He didn't even know if Lucas knew either. Involving his mother was probably not the best thing to do anyway, and with Lucas and his girlfriend Serena in New York, away from Hartford, he didn't want to spoil their time together. He would have to handle it himself.

When his father returned three hours later, he followed his father back into his father's private study. "What do you want, Charlie," he heard his father say, as he closed the door behind them, "it's not like you to come and see me at all." Over the last few years, he had known that Charlie had almost stopped speaking to him, and spent time either cooped up in his room with his music, or out, firstly in Hartford, and then up at Harvard.

Charlie replied, "I received a phone call this afternoon from Cedar Pines Military School." Charlie stared at his father's eyes, looking for anything to see if there would be any shock. "What I want to know, is why? Why did you do this to Tristin. He must have wanted to come back for grandfather's funeral if he was in Military School." He hadn't been as close to Janlen as Tristin had been.

He could see his father's eyes harden, "they weren't supposed to speak to you," he said, his voice showing his controlled fury. "no one else was supposed to know. Not even your mother."

Charlie scoffed, "I pretended to be you. We sound alike enough to fool someone who's only spoken to you a couple of times. Don't think that you hide everything that well, father. Tristin's in a coma in hospital. I want to go down to North Carolina."

"You will do nothing of the sort," his father, replied, "Charles Todd Dugray, you listen and you listen good, you will not go to North Carolina, you will not speak of this to your mother or Lucas." He rose from behind his desk, his full six-foot height trying to intimidate his son.

"Do you think you can intimidate me like that," Charlie replied, standing up. "I'm going no matter what you say. I only wanted to talk to you to inform you that I was going and to ask why would you lie to everyone like that. There are things that I know that about both you and mother that would ruin your precious image."

His father's eyes bulged further in anger but Charlie knew it was futile anger. He had spent too much time watching his parents marriage crumble and taking note of everything. "But I'll make you a deal, you tell me why, and let me choose my life until the end of college, and I'll work at Blackwood and Whitestone like you always wanted me to," Charlie said. Letting his father feel that he was victorious would always assuage his anger, it was something that Lucas had told him when they were younger. He would leave them alone and not make things hard. He knew his father had always wanted him to work at Blackwood and Whitestone before becoming Chief Counsel at Dugray Global, but he had wanted to become an environmental lawyer and help save the rainforests, to do good in the world. But his family, his brother was more important than that.

"You want to know why. It's because Tristin is a little useless piece of crap," his father stated, "he only knows how to spend my money and tarnish our image. I could forgive him his trysts with society girls because frankly most of them are sluts and will continue to be sluts for the rest of their lives, I could forgive the pranks at school. But breaking into a safe took it too far. The criminal charges would have affected Dugray Global, and I wasn't going to allow that happen. Luckily, Bowman's father owed me a favour, and don't think that hasn't cost the company money too. Tristin made his bed, now he has to lie in it."

He continued, "The two of you I knew would succeed whether you had the Dugray money or not. I never had to worry about Lucas and you. I was a younger son until your uncle Jonathan died. The two of you would have had to make it yourself, I was already making my own career when that truck killed Jon. When I became heir, I promised myself that my children would all be able to succeed independently. I knew that Lucas would have been playing NBA, if he hadn't been the heir to Dugray Global. I know that you would have ended up working at the UN or something like that helping out the impoverished." His father's voice broke slightly, "Tristin's been nothing but trouble, at the rate he's going he'll never be able to stand on his own. That's why I sent him away, to make something of himself. That's why I never allowed him to come back even for the funeral. He made his choices and had to face the consequences. Now get out of here. Go be with that useless son of mine." His tone was dismissive.

Even though TJ had the closest relationship with his grandfather Janlen out of everyone else in the family throughout the last few years, Charlie had thought it strange that TJ had not attended the funeral, but his father had said back then, that they didn't want to interrupt Tristin's great start at Boarding School in England. Now he knew that was all a lie. His father had wanted to punish Tristin. Now it was up to Charlie to fix the mess. He had to try. He couldn't fix the mess that was his father and mother's marriage, but hopefully this time he would succeed.

"Father," Charlie said. He hadn't known that Tristin had broken into a safe or that his father had felt the way he did. It still didn't excuse not allowing Tristin to return to for Janlen's funeral though. "TJ's in a coma. It's bad. You're his father. You're our father, he needed you to be there, and you weren't. I don't think he trust or loves you enough. I have to try. I need you to sign me over medical authority. I'm sorry it had to be this way. But Tristin's hurt real bad and I have to try to save what's left of this family after watching the shambles of a marriage that you and mum have descended to." His father pulled out a pen and signed a letter stating that Charlie could make medical decisions for Tristin.

"I'll be in touch," Charlie said, as he closed the door behind him as he left upstairs to pack. He missed the small look of regret that passed through his father's eyes as the door closed.

As the driver took him in the Dugray limo to the airport, Charlie allowed himself a few tears in the privacy of the back seat. He was going to have a lot of work to do. Not knowing how TJ was down in North Carolina. If Tristin was really bad, he would transfer down to North Carolina next semester, to Duke University, but his first focus was seeing to TJ's health before flying back to Harvard after semester break.

The plane ride and then the taxi ride to the hospital, had given Charlie a great deal of time to think about what was going to happen. Entering the hospital foyer, even though it was the dead of night, he asked to see his brother and the attending doctor. The nurse led him to room 2312 and Doctor Matheson. The older man looked into Charlie's eyes, a sad look. "Tristin is your younger brother?"

"Yes," Charlie replied, "my father couldn't make it, he's busy." He gave the excuse, "so he sent me instead, with this letter. He knows that I'm responsible. Can you tell me what happened."

"We're not one hundred percent sure, but Tristin was found in his dormitory at Cedar Pines Military School, bleeding to death, there seems to be many scars on his arms. We fear that Tristin has been self-harming. I've recommended that he see a psychiatrist. I wanted to ask about your family situation to see what type of treatment he should get."

Charlie sighed, how did it get so bad, how come he hadn't seen how badly off TJ was. He knew that as their parents marriage crumbled, he had drawn within himself, Lucas had gone off to college and had met Serena and fell in love. And he kicked himself mentally for forgetting about TJ, but still it had just been the way he had dealt with his parents. Part of him blamed his parents for the way that TJ was now, but it was in the past. "Unfortunately, the family situation hasn't been so good for a while."

"I understand," the doctor replied, as he led him to TJ's room. "You should go see him." Charlie entered the hospital room, and saw the monitors beeping steadily showing that TJ was merely unconscious. He saw both of TJ's forearms were wrapped in bandages. As he sat beside TJ, he grasped one of his hands in his own and said, "TJ, I'm here to you." He continued to sit in the hospital chair with TJ's hand clasped on his own. As tiredness overtook him, he dozed asleep gently. The night nurse checked in the room, and covered Charlie with a blanket.

As the suns rays began to shine through the hospital room window, TJ began to stir. He felt a strange pressure on his hand. As his eyes opened he looked over, and saw that his hand was grasped by his brother Charlie's. A tear ran down TJ's face as he watched his brother stir awake too. "I'm here," he heard his brother say. "I'm here for you. To help you get better," his voice radiated familial love. The first genuine smile in years crossed TJ's face as he lay there with his brother holding his hand.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
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	6. First Date

******First Date  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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**We now come back to a fluffy one-shot after the last one which was a bit emotionally heavy. Anyway, please review. I'd like to hear your suggestions. Especially if you have any other one-shots that you want to be written.  
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Rory Gilmore was inhaling a mug of coffee in her apartment, as she waited for seven o'clock to roll around. Tristin had called her not long after they had re-met through her colleague Liz who was dating Tristin's older brother, Charlie. Three nights ago they had set up a date, but Tristin hadn't told her where they were going.

She had finished work early that day, and had actually taken less time to get ready then she usually would have taken for a date, because it was casual. She had just put on some fitted jeans, and a matching blue top which showed the barest amount of shoulder, not too risque, but not too conservative either. She was no longer the sophomore high school Mary, Rory thought to herself. If someone had told her in her sophomore year that she would be looking forward to dating Tristin Dugray, she would have laughed out loud.

But the Tristin Dugray, the man was so much different from Tristin Dugray the boy who had been at Chilton. And he was in the elevator on the way up to her apartment to pick her up. She remembered the first time she had met Tristin Dugray on her first day at Chilton. He had dubbed her Mary. She remembered laughing with her mother at the old Biblical insults that Chiltonites back then still used. Her mother had then dubbed him Bible Boy. Then he had become the Spawn of Satan as he annoyed her more with his innuendo and leering.

The Tristin Dugray that she had re-met at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, he oozed attractiveness as if it were just something natural to him. The arrogance she had known had become self-confidence and assurance, the leering had become natural flirting. It was as if every negative trait she had seen at sixteen was now a positive trait in her twenties. She smiled as the doorbell rang. She opened the door.

And there he stood leaning against the door, nonchalant, smiling. _God_, _the way his body looks so casual yet so inviting. _"Hi, Rory," he said, "you ready to go," She shook away the errant thoughts as she collected her handbag and locked her apartment door. Going down the elevator she asked him where they were going. "It's a surprise," Tristin replied. As they stepped into the waiting limousine, she noticed a thermos of freshly brewed coffee sitting in the cup-holder. Tristin gave it to her and said, "for you."

Rory took a large gulp of the coffee, savouring its bitter and tart flavour. Tristin laughed as she put the cup back in the cup-holder. "I see your love of coffee hasn't changed at all." The limousine continued to drive through the streets of New York as it made its way towards the secret destination.

The limousine pulled up outside a small restaurant that was lively and buzzing with people, but not rowdy. It was obviously not a fine dining restaurant but rather a restaurant where people went with their families and friends to. As Rory exited the limousine she said, "this looks like a good place to eat." As Rory and Tristin entered they were greeted by a waiter at the door and seated at a table for two.

Rory pored over the menu as it was handed to her and began to weigh up the options for eating. She was definitely avoiding the salads. As she made her decision she asked Tristin where he had come up with the idea for this restaurant.

"Charlie recommended the place," Tristin said in reply, "I've been here before as well." When Tristin had come to New York, last summer break, he had come to eat here with Charlie and Lucas and found that although the restaurant wasn't one of those posh restaurants that his parents had always preferred, the atmosphere and the noise of the place made him feel like he was not alone, instead it made him feel as if he were dining with a large family.

A tall, blonde waitress came up to the table and pulled out a small paper pad. Rory and Tristin both ordered their food and then the waitress left the table to put their orders in to the kitchen. Rory and Tristin fell into easy conversation at first, talking about how their weeks had been.

Tristin said that he had spent some time on holiday, and then some time with his brother Lucas at Dugray Global Industries helping the company out. There was a meeting with some producers at one of the TV studios out here for a possible part in a new show that he had attended with his agent, but neither knew whether Tristin would be offered the part.

Rory expanded on what had happened in the Romeo and Juliet play straight after Tristin had left, "Paris played Romeo." Tristin laughed at the thought that popped into his head, imagining Paris kissing Rory on the lips. "Of course, that wasn't as bad as the second time when Paris kissed me to get free drinks at a college party." Rory added. Tristin's laughter was added to the boisterous atmosphere around them in the restaurant. "Rory," he said, between laughing.

"It's not funny," she replied. She quickly changed the topic, "anyway, first year at Yale, I spent most weekends back home in Stars Hollow. I first saw your brother then too, at Open Mic Night at the campus pub. Half the floor in my dorm building of freshman girls were always talking about the blonde, debonair but aloof musician that played on Saturday nights."

Tristin replied, "That's so like Charlie, he was always really cautious around girls, even when he was younger."

"Whereas you'd have your flavour of the week," Rory joked.

"I haven't had flavours of the week since I left Chilton," Tristin replied, quietly. "That was a long time ago for me."

"Military school must have really changed you." Rory said.

"Yeah," Tristin replied, "it did. It was a really hard time, with drill sergeants waking you up at five am in the morning for three mile runs. It was really hard to adjust to having to do everything for myself at Cedar Pines and people not caring that I was a Dugray. But after a while, I learned to do things for myself and Charlie transferred down to Duke for senior year. Charlie gave his Saturdays to visit me at school almost every week of senior year, my marks picked up and I was accepted into Harvard, Yale and Stanford."

"Three of the best colleges in this country. I'm impressed Tristin." Rory replied.

"Senior year I made some of my best friends at Cedar Pines. My best friend from Cedar Pines, Jake, he's in Afghanistan, serving as a marine. I still keep in contact with a lot of my classmates, Tristin continued to describe his experiences at Cedar Pines, "In military school, each class sort of becomes like a brotherhood, friends for life."

"How did you end up picking Stanford?" Rory asked.

"How did you end up picking Yale," Tristin shot back, a smirk crossing his features.

"Oh, I made a pro/con list, and Yale won out over Harvard." Rory replied, "Yale was closer to home so my mother was close by."

"I actually almost went to Yale," Tristin replied, "but in the end I decided to go to Stanford." It was the truth, but Tristin left out the reason why he had changed his mind. He had been set to go to Yale with Charlie, but after their falling out at the end of his senior year at Cedar Pines when he had found out that Charlie had collaborated with his father to watch over him, he had changed to enrol in Stanford for college.

"It was the furthest from Hartford, right?" Rory asked, guessing that Tristin wanted to be as far away from Hartford and society as possible. She had learned whilst she dated Logan that Hartford socialites most likely had a pretty empty home life.

"Yeah," Tristin replied casually, "I went there for my first year, and then summer that year, one of my friends at Stanford, Juliana, got me into modelling, had some success with photoshoots, and then someone from ABC saw me, and cast me on Superspies. I liked acting and the people there, so I dropped down to part time at Stanford, whilst acting on the show."

As he finished, the first course, the antipasti arrived, and Rory and Tristin began to eat the smoked Italian meats, and the fetta and olives on the platter. Rory and Tristin both sampled everything on the platter, including the standard salami, smoked ham to the more exotic meat. The garlic bread that accompanied the main course then came, as the antipasto platter was removed.

Tristin asked Rory more about her college experience, "I met a lot of new and interesting people at college. Paris and I became really good friends, and we worked together at the Yale Daily News. Paris's current boyfriend, Doyle, was editor there when we joined as staff reporters."

"That's good," Tristin replied.

"Before Doyle, she was dating a Professor old enough to be my grandfather, so Doyle was definitely a step up," Rory said. Tristin laughed.

"Paris dated a Professor?" Tristin asked, trying to imagine, Paris Gellar with a sixty year old professor on a date. Suffice to say, the picture was not pretty.

"Yeah," Rory replied, "she did. She was serious about it too." Rory changed the subject, "I found out about the Life and Death Brigade, joined for a while too."

"Oh," Tristin answered, "the secret societies of socialites at Ivy League colleges. Lucas was in something like that at Harvard, and so was Charlie before he came down to Duke."

"I met a couple of great friends there, Finn and Colin and Steph." Rory left out her ex-boyfriend, Logan from the conversation, the first date was not the time to talk about ex-boyfriends.

"Hartford socialites," Tristin replied, "think I've heard of them around the Hartford gossip chain before I left for military school. Haven't really been back to Hartford since I left Chilton." He hadn't returned to Hartford for a long time, except for his oldest brother Lucas' wedding. Otherwise, he spend most of his time back in Stanford or LA.

"They are," Rory answered, "they're nice in their own way. Got me to come out of my shell a lot. Tried a lot of exciting things with them. It was fun," she continued, "I applied for the Reston Fellowship at the New York Times but didn't get it but I got a job writing for an online publication following the Obama election. Some of my articles got picked up by the newspapers. After the primaries I got the job at International News, wrote more articles on domestic politics, met Liz, and then got roped into that double date."

"Where you saw me again," Tristin finished. The main course, being pasta arrived at the table just as they finished. They continued to eat, Tristin having ordered fettuccine, and Rory having bow-shaped pasta. In between eating, they continued to talk about their friends.

"At Stanford," Tristin said, "in my first year, my room mate, Eddy and I hung out at the beach a lot. He taught me how to surf on the weekends. It was really good being independent, being away from Hartford and my parents. Made a lot of other friends as well. Summer came, and I went to visit Eddy and the others who were from LA, one night our group went to pick up Juliana from her work for her birthday, the photoshoot was running late, and the head of the booking agency who was took one look at me, and wanted me to drop by her office the next day. Since I wasn't going to go back to Hartford that summer, I decided to take the chance. It got me a job that summer. It felt really good to make my own money instead of relying on the family."

"One look from the head of a booking agency and she picked you," Rory asked, jokingly, "I see that you still have that way of charming the ladies."

Tristin sputtered, taken by surprise, "no, it was strictly professional between Marcy and I. She wanted me for a job with Armani, in a suit. I suppose it fit well because I was used to wearing formal clothes my whole life. The photographer on the shoot said it looked like I had worn Armani my whole life, the way I fit into the clothing and carried it." He leaned in closer, over the food as she leant closer as well, whispering, "he was probably right." The countless society parties that he had been to through his childhood and teenage years meant that putting on a suit and making it look good was almost second nature.

Rory could feel the his breath tickling her ear, sending chills down her body, as they both pulled away, rejoining the friendly conversation that they were having before. Rory was processing in her mind the way that even a simple whispered comment from Tristin was making her feel on the first date.

Rory took a sip of the Italian coffee that she was having with the meal. "I used to want to be a foreign correspondent, but I think when travelling on the Obama campaign trail I began to become more interested in reporting on politics and how the government affects people's lives. I did do some foreign news when I first joined but I think I missed home too much so I switched back to domestic news. I was lucky that there was a position open domestically."

"Because you got to see me again," Tristin quipped, smirk on his face. Rory took one look at that familiar smile, it had annoyed her when she was a young, innocent high school girl, but now, as an independent, successful woman, it was attractive.

"Yes," Rory replied, "because I got to see you again," the banter between Tristin and Rory continued, as dessert came, a large slice of cake for each of them. As they polished off dessert, and Tristin paid the bill, they left the restaurant. Rory felt like they had just left a family party such as the family-friendly atmosphere in the restaurant. She and Tristin took a short walk to where the Dugray's motor vehicle would be meeting them.

As they walked the short distance to where the car was parked, Rory and Tristin unconsciously held hands, swinging them as they walked and chatted. To any outside observer, it looked so natural, and Rory and Tristin themselves really didn't realise it until they got to the limousine and the driver opened the door for them. As they sat in the backseat of the limousine, driving back towards Rory's apartment, they continued to chat.

The limosuine pulled up to Rory's apartment building and the driver stopped and opened the door. Tristin and Rory both stepped out and Tristin walked her to the door. As they stood at her door, while Rory quickly retrieved her keys, Tristin mused on how good a date this was. As Rory found her keys and put them into the door of the apartment building, she said, "let's do this again," before leaning in and kissing Tristin on the cheek, "call me," she finished, as she let herself in the apartment block.

Tristin himself was still a bit shocked when he felt Rory kiss him on the cheek. He turned around walking back to the limousine, his driver closing the door behind him, as they drove back to Charlie's apartment to drop Tristin off, before the driver would take the car back to the garage at Lucas' place.

As the limousine moved through the streets, Tristin sat reflecting on how good the date had been, how much Rory had changed from the shy, naïve high school girl to a sophisticated and successful woman, and how, he had been attracted back then, and still was attracted now. He knew he liked her a lot and it was definitely worth another date.

Rory let herself back into the apartment that she lived in, kicked off her shoes and sat on the couch, after making herself a cup of coffee. Picking up the phone, she dialled a number, ringing her mother, Lorelai. The date with Tristin had been almost perfect, after the last few dates she had had with other men had fizzled. Tristin she felt, she definitely wanted to see again. As she heard the ring tone through the earpiece of the phone, she waited for her mother to pick up on the other end, knowing that the phone was probably lost somewhere in the mess of the lounge room downstairs.

"Hi mom," she said, as she heard Lorelai pick up on the other end, "you would not guess how good my date was tonight..."

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_


	7. Two Family Dinners

**Two Family Dinners  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
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**Thanks to JJsMommy27 and Kate for their encouraging reviews.  
**

**_A/N2: As you can see, this one is titled Two Family Dinners - one in Stars Hollow with Luke and Lorelai, and the other in Hartford with Tristin's family. Hope that you like the one-shot. Hope you liked my characterisation of Tristin's family. Feedback is very much appreciated. _  
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Rory Gilmore stood outside her childhood home, having driven down from New York with Tristin for the weekend with Lorelei, Luke and the rest of Stars Hollow. The annual fall fair was happening in Stars Hollow this weekend, so Rory had decided to come home to visit her mother, and had dragged Tristin into coming for the weekend, whilst he was on break from filming. Tristin had landed a role on a movie, This I Promise You, which was filming on the East Coast so he had stayed in New York, in between flying out to filming locations, taking a distance education course from Stanford in his spare time, which wasn't much.

They hadn't told anyone else that they were anywhere in Connecticut. She parked her small Prius outside the house that she had grown up in and exited the driver's seat. Tristin got out of the passenger's side, and together they looked at the house in front of them. Tristin had never been to Rory's house, although he had been in Stars Hollow before back when they had been assigned that Shakespeare play right before he had left military school.

On the drive over, it had been remarkable how little Stars Hollow had changed from what he remembered. As he and Rory held hands, they walked up the stairs onto the front porch, now painted white. They walked together to the front door, and Rory opened the door. Hearing a voice from the kitchen, Rory and Tristin headed towards that direction.

She was sure that Babette and Maury had started to spread the word around town that she had returned to Stars Hollow, with a man in tow. Tristin himself was nervous, this was the first time he would be meeting Rory's mother and Luke. Lorelai Gilmore was a revered figure amongst the younger generation in Hartford. She was the one that had managed to escape the Hartford life and make something of herself, all without the help of her parents. For that alone, even though she had gotten pregnant at sixteen, she was revered by many Hartford teenagers. Certainly in the rebellious years of youth, many had talked about pulling a 'Lorelai Gilmore' though none had been brave enough to go through with it.

Rory had told him the rules about meeting her mother, coffee was the standard present to bring when visiting along with danish it possible, she was always Lorelai, not Ms Gilmore or ma'am as that made her sound old. Tristin followed behind Rory, as they both entered the kitchen.

"Hi mum," Rory greeted her mother.

"Rory," Lorelai replied, "you're here. And who have you brought with you?" She knew full well that Rory had brought her boyfriend with her.

"Mum," Rory stated, "this is Tristin Dugray, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you Lorelai," Tristin interjected. He offered her the coffee that he had carried and bought on their way over.

"Rory," Lorelai said, as she accepted the coffee from Tristin, "you brought Bible Boy?" She was going to tease Rory for all it was worth for bringing her High School nemesis back home as her new boyfriend.

"Bible Boy," Tristin echoed wondering why he had a nickname.

"Mum," Rory stated, her tone warning, but Lorelai was having too much fun at her daughter's expense to stop teasing.

"Nice to meet you, Spawn of Satan," Lorelai replied, "You should be honoured," Lorelai continued, as she drank the coffee, "you have three nicknames in the Gilmore household."

"And what's the third," Tristin asked.

"ET," Lorelai answered, "you don't need to guess what that stands for."

Tristin laughed, "I guess that I was a major topic of conversation between the two of you, back then as well wasn't I Mare?" A smile crossed his face. Meeting Lorelai Gilmore was definitely something fun. "I told you, you liked me back then, you were just too scared to admit it."

"No I wasn't," Rory argued, "I didn't like you in a romantic way back then. You were annoying with all of your innuendo," she huffed.

A look of fake hurt crossed Tristin's face, "I was not annoying," he said, "I just had trouble expressing what I felt for you."

"Yes," Rory replied, "you had your foot in your mouth every time you attempted to flirt with me."

"Come on," Lorelai said, "enough to the banter, we need to got get dinner at the house of the coffee God."

"You mean Luke's?" Rory interjected, in a deadpan tone.

"Yes, mini-me and Bible Boy," Lorelai said, "we are going to Luke's." With that Lorelai waltzed out the door of the Gilmore house and Tristin and Rory were forced to follow her as they made their way to Luke's.

Once at the diner, Lorelai walked up to the counter and said, "coffee please." Luke looked up just in time to see Lorelai at the counter begging for coffee, and Rory and a tall, young, blonde-haired man walk into the diner. This he supposed was her boyfriend, Tristin Dugray.

Pouring Lorelai a cup of coffee, and setting another cup of coffee aside for Rory, Luke saw Lorelai and Tristin and Rory take a seat at one of the tables, with one spare seat, he knew, for him. "the usual please," Lorelai and Rory both said in unison as he came to take the order.

Tristin looked at the menu, and decided to order the cheeseburger and fries and have a drink of orange juice. As Luke took down the order, he retreated behind the counter to prepare the food.

"That's Luke, I gather," Tristin said.

"Yes," Lorelai replied, "he's Luke, the provider of coffee, and my boyfriend."

"He's like a father to me," Rory interjected. "He looked after both my mum and I when I was little. He was sort of the man about our house when we needed a man around."

Tristin nodded, gathering that Luke was like a father to Rory. He protected her and looked after her. Tristin sometimes wished his father was like that, particularly when he was younger but he knew now, it was not going to happen.

When the food came, Luke came to sit down and join them. Luke and Lorelai fell into an easy conversation about the day, before Luke turned to Tristin, "so what do you do for a living?"

_Let the interrogation begin_, Tristin thought, "I'm studying part-time at Stanford University, but currently, I'm based in New York, living with my older brother Charlie whilst I'm acting in a film. Acting's sort of my career for now, but when I finish that, I'll be joining the family business, Dugray Global Industries. So I will be able to take good care of Rory."

When Tristin said that he acted, Lorelai stretched her mind, trying to guess what show Tristin was on. Certainly, there was no one by the name of Tristin Dugray in the shows that she watched, and she watched plenty of TV shows, being conversant in pop culture.

Luke thought that acting was a tough business, but he knew that Tristin was studying at Stanford, which meant he was smart and would be able to hopefully get a job to support Rory when she needed it. Plus he knew, that Tristin was a Hartford socialite with a lot of money. But most importantly, he could see that Tristin would support Rory through everything that she went through, be there for her, that he could see in Tristin's eyes. He was not a man that would run. He could see that Tristin was what he, himself was for Lorelai.

Lorelai jumped up and shouted jolting Luke out of his reverie. "You're the suave and sexy but totally mockable French spy-guy Pierre Rochefort on Superspies."

Rory laughed, "yes, mum, Tristin plays Pierre on Superspies, though he does look quite different in the show."

Tristin smiled, taking a sip of his drank, "It's a hard, but rewarding job. Get to be around a lot of cool people too. But when I retire from acting, I'll be going to work at Dugray Global." It was expected that Tristin would eventually go to work at Dugray Global full-time. Currently, he was just doing a bit of work here and then in the holidays for Dugray Global Industries, working with his brother, Lucas.

As dinner was finished, Lorelai invited Tristin and Luke for a movie night. Of course, Rory and Lorelai insisted on buying the candy from Doose's market, and also picking the movies to watch, of which one would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the Oompa Loompas.

As Lorelai and Rory went off to stock up for a movie night, Luke cornered Tristin and had a private conversation with him. "Rory's like a daughter to me, don't hurt her." The implication that Luke, and most likely Lorelai would kill him if he did was clear from the message.

Tristin replied, "I have no intention of hurting Rory."

"That's good," Luke said, and that was the end of the conversation.

Heading over to the Gilmore household with Luke, Rory and Lorelai, Tristin reflected on the loving environment that the Gilmore house was, so unlike what he had when he was in his teenage years.

As Lorelai handed out cups of coffee and they settled down with the copious amounts of junk food, and the first movie was put into the DVD player, and Rory sat next to Tristin on the couch, half snuggled together, Rory felt comfortable, more safe in a relationship then she ever had in a long time. She could tell by the way Tristin held her that she was safe in his arms.

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It was the week of Thanksgiving, and the Dugray family were holding a formal dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving. It had been a while since Tristin and Rory had been in Hartford. Tristin himself rarely stayed in Hartford for more than one day at a time, preferring to be back on the West Coast or in New York when either Charlie or Lucas or both of them were there to celebrate holidays with.

However, since his two older brothers were going up to Hartford along with their respective partners, Tristin was obliged to go. His father had called with a summons, and then his mother had called to confirm numbers. Not wanting to spend a holiday weekend away from Rory, he had dragged her along. Luckily, she was used to dealing with Hartford society, being a Gilmore, and having dated a Huntzberger. She sympathised with Liz, who was from a middle-class family.

She and Tristin were driving up together, and they planned to attend the dinner, sleep one night and then move to Stars Hollow to visit Luke and Lorelai. When they arrived in Hartford, Tristin drove down a large street, towards the end, and Rory saw the Dugray mansion, in all of its imposing glory. As they made their way past the imposing gates and up the long drive, Rory commented, "the mansion looks so large and imposing."

"Yes," Tristin replied, "it's the way that my parents like it, to scream wealth and style," there was a slight bitter tinge, "but I like your mother's home a lot better. There's just something about your mother's home that makes me feel good."

Rory answered, "I'm sure it will be immaculate." She phrased this as diplomatically as she could, knowing that Tristin didn't have the happiest of teenage years. As Tristin parked the car at the end of the driveway, they made their way up the front stairs to the door which was under an arched alcove of white pillars.

Tristin pressed the doorbell, and it was promptly answered by the maid. The butler then took both Tristin and Rory's coats, and they followed the maid into the living room, where pre-dinner drinks were being served. Tristin saw that his father had not arrived yet, but his mother Emma, sat with both Lucas and Serena and their son, Matthew.

Emma Dugray rose up from her seat, and greeted Tristin and asked, "and who is this young lady with you?" Rory could already feel the fake politeness ooze out of Tristin's mother. He had warned her that his mother was one of those socialites who oozed fake manners.

"Mother," Tristin replied, "this is Rory Gilmore, my girlfriend." Rory politely greeted Mrs Dugray. Tristin had also warned her that his mother would not like her once she found out that Rory was related to Emily Gilmore. As her grandmother was one of the leading ladies of the DAR, Rory would not be beholden to his mother for patronage within the circle of socialite ladies of Hartford.

As Rory took a drink of coffee and sat down to converse with Serena and Emma, Charlie entered the room with Liz, his face looking inscrutable, followed by his father, Jason Dugray would looked livid. Liz herself, Rory saw, had a poker face on, but obviously this affected her too.

The dinner bell rung not soon after, and the family were taken by the maid into the dining room, where the meal was served. Rory looked down at the soup that the cook had made, and took a tentative sip of the soup. It was a very nice pumpkin soup. As she looked up she could see the angry look pass Tristin's father's face. It seemed as if today, he was angry with Charlie.

Emma Dugray asked her husband how his day was, even though she could tell it had not been a good day. She rarely paid attention to her husband's moods though. Jason Dugray looked pointedly over at Charlie, before uttering in a low, dangerous tone, "I found out today that Charlie has a four and a half year old son in North Carolina."

A spoon clattered onto the ground, as everyone stopped what they were doing. Tristin knew that Charlie had been going out with a girl back when his brother was at Duke and Tristin was at Cedar Pines, but could never have guessed that there was a child in this.

Rory could see Liz's face pale at the announcement. Charlie's face turned furious as he stared straight back at his father, "Yes, father, I have a son, Colton, from my ex-girlfriend in North Carolina." He had just found out today that the DNA results had matched, and that his ex-girlfriend had left him sole custody of his son after her death in a car accident. He had never known that Anna had been pregnant. Charlie's eyes were like ice chips as he continued to speak, "He's coming to live with me in New York after his mother died."

Tristin knew that his brother didn't want the information revealed in this manner. He was certain that Charlie would want to handle this delicately rather than have it announced at Thanksgiving Dinner in front of guests.

Emma Dugray was already scheming in her mind as to how this would be handled with the other ladies in Hartford society. Surely, this would be a large scandal for the Dugray's that would dent her standing amongst the DAR. Jason was busily forming some sort of business strategy to handle this issue. "Are you sure it's yours," Emma asked.

His teeth clenched, "Yes, mother, you think father didn't already have the tests done and paid for?" Charlie replied.

"Emma, shut up, no one asked for your opinion," Jason Dugray interjected, his tone derisive, "I'm already taking care of it. You just go and preen with your lady friends like you usually do, and gush about your gorgeous new grandson." That was all in his mind Emma was good for, to bear sons, she had succeeded in that at least, having birthed Lucas, Charles, and Tristin, and to organise the requisite parties and look good on his arm when needed, which made her tolerable to him. Sometimes, when she wasn't needed, he wished he could just switch her off like one would do with a phone or computer. Any love he had for her when they first married had long faded.

Liz, having recovered her complexion somewhat turned back to the food to try to calm herself. Although she had been forewarned of the news by Charlie, she hadn't expected it to turn into a bitter fight within the family. Certainly, if something like this happened in her family, they would have closed ranks to support each other rather than divide and fight.

"You had better not take any reduced work hours at Blackwood and Whitestone. I expect that you work even harder now that you have a son," Jason answered, "you have another mouth to feed now." He was busily working out the implications of the extra cost of a grandchild on Dugray Global. He would just have to make cuts to family expenses somewhere, probably Emma's allowance would have to be reduced. Maybe they would sponsor one less charity or DAR event. He took another sip of his soup, signalling to everyone that this discussion was over.

Lucas and Serena recovered quickly enough from the revelation, voicing their support for Charlie and his son. Rory, who was seated next to Liz, offered her some words of comfort. After the soup was done, the maid came in with the main course. However, the tension in the dining room could be visibly felt by Rory.

She could see Tristin's father's barely disguised disgust, Charlie's angry quivering, Liz's controlled distress, Serena and Lucas's worry. Tristin's mother seemed like she gave nothing away on her facial expression, but Rory had seen enough of Shira Huntzberger whilst she had dated Logan to know the disguised contempt underneath the veneer.

Tristin himself was shocked, he remembered meeting Anna, once or twice, on holidays from Cedar Pines, when he and Charlie had been living in North Carolina. They had pretended that they were two orphaned brothers sometimes, because that was exactly what it had been like for Charlie and Tristin back then. Only their really close friends from North Carolina really knew the truth about Charlie and Tristin's family in Hartford, Connecticut. Tristin knew that Anna and Charlie weren't going to last though, because Charlie had been headed to Yale Law School, as part of the deal that Charlie had done with his father to allow Charlie move to North Carolina to be with Tristin. Anna, he knew had her life in North Carolina.

He knew though, that Charlie would make a great father to his son, because Charlie had almost single-handedly taken care of all of Tristin's parental needs in those tempestuous year or so at Cedar Pines. There was no need to worry about his nephew's welfare.

Dinner was soon followed by dessert. Jason Dugray left for the privacy of his study. More business everyone presumed. Liz was taken by Charlie to one of the guest bedrooms where she wanted to lie down and prepare to sleep. Serena took Matthew upstairs to put the boy to bed. Emma Dugray left the room as well, leaving Lucas and Tristin and Rory who headed towards the library. As Charlie returned downstairs, the butler entered saying that Tristin was required by his father in the study, leaving Rory with Charlie and Lucas in the library, which was filled from floor to ceiling with books in bookshelves. The door closed behind Tristin and the butler. Charlie and Lucas both took a seat in two chairs across from where Rory was sitting, having picked one of the books off the bookshelf.

Rory could sort of guess that this was where Charlie and Lucas would ask her not to hurt Tristin and that she would be given a warning. After all, she was sure that Luke and Lorelai had done the same for Tristin, and knowing how close that the three Dugray brothers were now, she expected something like that from his two older brothers.

Rory saw Lucas address her, his face looking contemplative, "Despite what it looks like on the surface, Tristin has always felt everything deeply, so don't hurt him," Lucas said.

"Don't hurt him again," Charlie stated, interjecting from where he was seated, "Tristin's been through a lot, especially when he first knew you. He really likes you a lot, has done so for a while."

"That's all we ask of you, Rory, I can see you're a good person, so I hope that we can trust you to look after Tristin," Lucas concluded.

Before they could go any further, the door opened and Tristin walked back into the library. Taking the seat next to Rory, he gave her a quick hug. "What were you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing much," Rory replied, "just having a chat with your brothers."

"I'd better go check on Liz," Charlie said, as he got up and left the room. Lucas left to check on his wife and child not long after.

Once the door closed, Tristin said to Rory, "now, what did Lucas and Charlie really say. They didn't threaten you did they?"

Rory looked back at Tristin, "what do you think they did," she shot back. Tristin saw the twinkle in her eye, and he knew that Lucas and Charlie had had some words with Rory. "They're just looking out for you, their brother. I don't begrudge them anything. I'm sure Luke put you through worse when we went to Stars Hollow for the first time."

Tristin winced, recalling the memory of his first visit to Stars Hollow. Like his older brothers looked out for him, Luke, as Rory's surrogate father figure looked out for her. He couldn't begrudge his brothers for caring, after all they had been through quite a bit together, especially Charlie and Tristin himself, so he let the topic drop.

"You now know why I don't like coming home that often," Tristin said. "And why I would much rather hang out with Luke and Lorelai in Stars Hollow then my parents here." Rory nodded, agreeing, after one dinner with Jason and Emma Dugray she was ready to not have to come to this Dugray household for dinner for another year.

A quiet yawn escaped from his mouth, and he dragged Rory away from the library, up towards the bedrooms where they settled down for the night. Giving Rory a goodnight kiss, Tristin slipped back into his childhood bedroom for a night of rest. Tomorrow, they would head to the elder Gilmore's and then to Stars Hollow for time with Luke and Lorelai, and the rest of that quaint little town, full of life and of love.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_


	8. Winter Wedding

**Three Ex Boyfriends Part I - Winter Wedding  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
**

**Thanks to Kate and Guest for your reviews. Hopefully this one has more RT interaction that you like.  
**

**Kate - it's cool that you like my characterization of Tristin's family. Thanks. Do you like the characterization of Tristin's brothers? mother? father? or the whole package?  
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**_A/N2: As you can see, this one is a Winter Wedding - that is Luke and Lorelai's wedding in Winter, hence why I didn't have the Tristin/Rory wedding in Winter because writing two different Winter Weddings would have been awkward. _  
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_You are cordially invited to the wedding of Mr Luke Danes to Miss Lorelai Gilmore, _the wedding invitation had said. Tristin Dugray held the redundant wedding invitation in his hand, since he was definitely going as his girlfriend Rory, Lorelai's daughter, was the maid of honour for the wedding.

In fact, he was driving down from New York back to Stars Hollow as soon as filming for the movie wrapped up for the day. Rory had gone down earlier as she was helping out with the wedding that was to take place at the Gazebo in Stars Hollow town square. The bride had insisted on an outdoor wedding in winter much to the chagrin of the bride's mother.

By the time Tristin arrived at the Gilmore's house and parked his BMW in the driveway, it was late at night. Walking up the porch stairs and quietly opening the door, he was greeted by a shocking sight. He saw his girlfriend, eyes puffy and red, as if she had been crying, sitting curled up in the couch in the lounge room. He immediately rushed to her side, sitting down next to her, putting his arms around her, to comfort her.

When Rory felt Tristin's touch, his hands rubbing small circles on her back, comforting her she looked up into his eyes and promptly burst into tears again. "I'm so glad you are here, Tristin," she said, as she continued to bawl.

"What's wrong Rory?" he asked, resting his chin on top of her head as he continued to hold her close to him.

"Jess," she said, "he kissed me and said he still loved me," she started to say, "but I don't love him, I love you. But now it's going to be so awkward because he's Luke's best man and I'm the maid of honour. He's going to be my cousin after Luke and mum get married. Oh my god, what am I going to do," she continued to ramble on as words came out of her mouth, "I don't want to ruin mum and Luke's wedding, but it's going to be so bad. I don't know what to do. Tristin, I'm scared of there being a big scene and then mum and Luke's day will be ruined and she'll hate me."

Tristin sat there shocked, angry at first, that someone else had kissed Rory, but as soon as Rory uttered the words 'I love you', he had stopped paying attention to what she was saying. He had zoned out, because he hadn't expected her to say 'I love you' so soon. He himself, wasn't one hundred percent ready to say those three words even though he felt it. They had taken things slowly, to make sure that their feelings were deep and real. Tristin continued to offer comfort to Rory, through physical touch.

"Your mum won't hate you." Tristin replied, "she could never hate you." Although Tristin knew about the estrangement between Lorelai and Rory, because of Logan Huntzberger, he also knew that it was more anger and hurt rather than hate. There was a big difference between being angry and hurting and really hating someone. He knew, because even he did not hate his parents although they had hurt him and made him angry at them a lot of the time. "Even if something happened at the wedding, she would never hate you."

Rory looked up into Tristin's eyes, and saw the truth that was reflected in them. She knew deep in her heart that her mother could never hate her. But still, she was scared at how awkward the wedding tomorrow would be, with the best man, Jess, her cousin to be still in love with her, and her, well she loved Tristin, her boyfriend. She needed his support now, more than ever, and that was what was so great about Tristin Dugray, the man, as opposed to the Tristin from high school. She knew that Tristin would support her when she needed it. He wouldn't go away when it was too hard. She could guess, no, she knew intuitively that he loved her, even though he hadn't said it yet because they were taking it slow and she knew that she loved him back.

With her past relationships, they had had to say 'I love you' over and over again, as if to affirm and convince themselves that they were in love. With Tristin, it was intuitive, words did not need to be expressed to know that they were in love. Saying it was just a bonus. And that was what was different about this relationship than her previous three relationships that had all failed.

Tristin continued to comfort her, "Maybe it's best to talk it out with Jess before the wedding. I'll come with you to give you the support you need."

Rory replied, "Maybe..." as she yawned involuntarily, "but what should I say. Do I tell him that I moved on. That I feel that I can't really trust him to be there with me, because he ran away from me, once. That I feel that even though he's turned his life around, I can't trust him to support me always, that I don't love him any more, that we never had the deep and meaningful and true love that we share. That he doesn't love me the way that I know that I am loved by you."

Tristin smiled, knowing that Rory knew that he loved her, without expressing it in words, and that she loved him too, that they were truly in love. "I don't know what you should say, Rory," he said, "but I'll be with you every step of the way. And I'm sure that Jess doesn't want to ruin his uncle's wedding to your mother either. Just smile, have a good time tomorrow at the wedding." He saw Rory yawn once more, and looked at the clock. "You only have about six hours to sleep, come on, let's get you up to bed."

He lifted her up off the couch, and up the stairs of the house to Rory's bedroom. Last time he had been here, Rory had showed him her childhood bedroom. It had been different to how he had imagined it back in high school, but it was still so essentially Rory. As he gently nudged the door open, and lay her down on the bed where she now lay, she pulled him down with him onto the bed. "Sleep with me tonight," Rory said, "I need you with me." Suppressing his own yawn, Tristin lay down next to Rory and soon the couple fell asleep.

The next morning, Tristin and Rory were curled around each other, entwined, but still clothed in their pyjamas. One arm of his was draped over her body. That was how Lorelai Gilmore, who was to become Lorelai Gilmore-Danes today found her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend. Clothed but asleep.

But today was the big day of her wedding and she needed Rory to get ready for the wedding, after coffee from Luke's. Although she would have to send Rory to pick up breakfast and coffee before the make-up lady and the hairdresser came to style her hair and do her make up, as well as Rory's and Sookie's.

Sneaking over to Rory's bed she leaned over Rory's head, whispered in her daughter's ear, "Rory." Lorelai saw her daughter turn over to try to block out the noise. She reached over to grab Rory by the shoulder to shake her so that she could awake.

"Go away," she heard Rory mutter in her sleep. Next to her Tristin began to stir as well, his mouth stretching out as he yawned. As his bleary eyes opened he saw Lorelai looming over the bed. He gently reached over and shook Rory awake, "Rory, it's time to get up."

Rory moaned as Tristin and Lorelai woke her up. "Five more minutes please," she states as she tries to keep her eyes closed.

"Come on," Tristin said, "you and I have to go to Luke's to get your mother breakfast and coffee." At the mention of coffee, Rory slowly opens her eyes and begins to get up. Lorelai, seeing that Rory has indeed awoken makes her way out of the room to continue to get ready for her wedding day.

Rory got up out of the bed, and made her way to the bathroom to change clothes and get ready to make the quick stop at Luke's for morning coffee and breakfast. Caesar would be cooking today. By the time she got out of the bathroom, Tristin was ready to duck into the bathroom.

Five minutes later, both Rory and Tristin made the short walk from the Gilmore house to Luke's diner. As they entered the door, the doorbell jingled. Picking up their food quickly from the diner, Rory and Tristin quickly left the diner. As she looked back at the closing door, she caught Jess's eyes as he came down the stairs from the apartment above Luke's. She continued to walk home with Tristin, knowing that today was her mother's day, and not her day to rehash old history.

By the time they got home, the hair and make-up team had arrived to start their work. Gulping down the coffee, Lorelai ate a danish that Rory and Tristin had gotten before allowing herself to be subjected to the whims of the hair and makeup artists.

Half an hour later, Rory and Sookie were undertaking the same process, and Emily Gilmore and Richard Gilmore both arrived at Lorelai's house. Tristin greeted them at the door, and he and Richard sat down and had some tea, whilst Emily moved upstairs to join the other women.

Soon, the time of the wedding came, and Lorelai, Sookie, Rory and Richard all bundled into the limousine. Emily and Tristin had left earlier to go to the town square to make sure the wedding place was set up perfectly.

As the limousine pulled up outside the town square, Rory saw that everyone in Stars Hollow had arrived. After all, they had all waited years and years for Luke and Lorelai to get married. In fact, Rory thought, Babette and Miss Patty probably had some betting pool going on the marriage date.

As she awaited her cue to step out and walk down the red carpet which had been set up, Rory couldn't be more happy for her mother. As she walked down the aisle, as the maid of honour, she caught Tristin's eyes in the front row on the bride's side of the seating. He smiled back at her and she continued her walk, taking her place next to Sookie. Her mother made her way down the aisle, accompanied by her grandfather, Richard.

As the marriage vows were exchanged, a light blanket of snow began to fall down, powdery white, the first snow of the year. As Rory recounted what her mother always said, that magical things happen in the first snows, she heard clapping, and her mother and now step-father, Luke kissed for the very first time as husband and wife.

As the processional then walked back down the aisle, she found herself walking next to Jess. Keeping quiet for the sake of her mother as they made their way to the marquee where the reception would be held, she left Jess at the entrance and made her way back towards Tristin.

Tristin and herself were seated at the main table, along with the newlyweds, the bridesmaids and groomsmen, Jess and Jackson, and Lorelai's parents, as both of Luke's parents were already deceased. As each table rose to get the self-service food, Tristin and Rory lingered behind, allowing everyone else on the table to get food first. Underneath the table, they held hands.

Across the table, she could see Jess still staring at her. After the reception she thought to herself, she would have to tell him straight up that she had moved on. The speeches at the reception and the food were soon finished, and the wedding party began to break up. Rory and Tristin headed back towards the Gilmore house, to change out of their clothes into something more comfortable before she wanted to talk to Jess.

After they had changed, they headed back out to Luke's diner. Rory, dressed in a casually styled top and jeans with her nice jacket on top, Tristin dressed in his cargo pants and a nice tee-shirt with a woollen jumper and jacket on top for the cold.

When they arrived at Luke's diner, they saw Jess coming down the stairs. Rory motioned for Jess to come sit with Tristin and herself at the table. She started by saying, "I'm sorry, Jess," she continued to hold onto Tristin for strength, "I can't return your feelings. I don't love you in the way that you deserved to be loved, I just don't feel the love I know is true romantic love with you." Rory could see Jess's angry stare at her. She continued, "but we are family now, cousins, so I hope that we can at least be good cousins to each other."

She looked into Jess's eyes, seeing the hurt in them. "Look, if it takes time for you to come to terms with this, I'm okay with it. But I don't love you in a romantic sense." Rory waited for Jess's reply, but he just got up, silent, and left the table.

Rory and Tristin walked back out of the diner. Tristin spoke as they walked, "look, you've said what you needed to say. Just give him some time to process everything. I'm sure he'll come around."

Rory looked up at her boyfriend, "I hope so. Thank you for being there with me all the way."

Tristin smiled back down at her, "of course, I'm with you all the way, Mare."

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_

_A/N: This is a Tristin/Rory fic. Happy to debate about who is the best guy for Rory in the forums but please don't start a shipping war in the reviews. Part II and Part III of Three Ex-boyfriends are the next two chapters. I may or may not treat Rory's ex's nicely in them._


	9. New Years Eve

**Three Ex Boyfriends Part II - New Years Eve  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
**

Thank You JJsMommy27 for reviewing. Hope You like how I treated Logan.

A/N2: And bonus Paris and Doyle too.

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The Wilton's New Years Eve party was the one party that everyone in Hartford was expected to attend, and this year, because Tristin and Rory had been visiting Luke and Lorelai in Stars Hollow, and consequently, being near Hartford, they were obliged to attend, especially after they had attended Friday night dinner with the Rory's grandparents who were going.

Tristin did not want to get into an argument with his mother or father about being close by and not attending the Society function. After all, he had pretty much avoided every society party since he had gone away to military school, with the exception of his eldest brother's wedding. Whilst his parents couldn't care less that he and Rory were staying at the Dragonfly Inn, being close by, and having been seen in Hartford at the Gilmore's, it was clear that Rory and Tristin had to attend.

Rory had just finished putting on her cocktail dress, this time a dark blue that contrasted with her brunette hair, but matched nicely with her blue eyes. Tristin was of course, in a tuxedo. They drove up in Rory's car, as she had driven them both down from New York when he had flown over from Stanford, California, where Tristin had just finished semester exams for his distance education course, for Christmas Break to spend with her. Tristin had been crashing at his brother, Charlie's apartment until Rory and himself had gone to Stars Hollow.

As they made the shortish drive to Hartford, and to the Wilton's mansion, where the party was to be held. He knew that Charlie and Lucas would have driven up either yesterday or this morning from New York to Hartford for the party, so it wasn't going to be all bad.

Arriving at the house that he had often visited each New Years Eve when he was younger, Tristin and Rory parked her car in the driveway, in one of the spaces that had been laid out in the mansion for visitors. Making the short hike up the driveway to the door, the maid greeted both Tristin and Rory and took their coats to the cloakroom.

The Wilton's mansion looked as immaculate as ever, except this time slightly more decorated for the New Years festivity. As Tristin and Rory made their way through the foyer into the ballroom where the party was being held, he saw his mother, Emma Dugray, playing the perfect guest. He knew that his mother did not like Rory much, because she was a Gilmore, the only granddaughter of Emily Gilmore, renowned patroness, and wasn't beholden to Emma for patronage with the DAR and society ladies. However, after a quick glance, Rory pulled Tristin towards his mother, to be polite, a perfunctory greeting was passed between Rory, Tristin and his mother, and then they were on their way again before his mother could make any comments to Rory.

Taking a drink they floated around the ballroom until they spotted a familiar couple, Paris and Doyle. Paris must be back for the holidays from medical school, Rory surmised as she and Tristin greeted the couple. Tristin shook Doyle's hand, having not met him before, and they began to chat.

"It's so good to see you again, Paris" Tristin stated, "been a long while since I've attended a Hartford party. Unfortunately, it's as boring and inane as ever." His rolled his eyes. Rory laughed, knowing that her mother had felt the same way about society parties for a long time. It was sort of weird how much Lorelai and Tristin were alike in their outlook on Hartford socialites. She steered the conversation towards Paris's medical school exploits. Tristin joked that the other doctor's must all be scared of Paris.

"Dugray," Paris replied, "I'm not exactly the same person as when we were in High School." Now that she had Doyle, and was not pining after Tristin like she had at Chilton, she gave him a death stare. That had not changed from the Chilton times.

"I know," Tristin answered, slightly taken aback, "It was just a joke for old times sake." Rory giggled.

"Paris, nice catching up with you. Doyle, nice to meet you," Tristin said as he and Rory left the couple to try to find somewhere to hide. "Come on, Mare," he said, using her nickname as they walked around. The library was always good, but sometimes, that's where his father and his closest business associates tended to retire to to discuss business, and he wanted to avoid his father at all costs.

As they wondered through the ballroom, keeping moving, looking for Charlie and Liz or Lucas, Serena and Matthew, Rory heard a person call her name. She turned around, and saw a man, with blonde hair and brown eyes, he ex-boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger. Tristin turned around and saw the same man, calling out to Rory. He looked over at Rory, as he clasped her hand tighter, knowing that she needed the support. This was the first time that she had seen her ex-boyfriend since they had broken up just before she graduated from Yale, and had joined the Obama campaign trail.

Logan saw Rory across the room, with her new boyfriend in tow, the society gossips had seen fit to inform everyone in Hartford that Rory Gilmore was dating Tristin Dugray. And there his ex-girlfriend stood, with Tristin Dugray looking blissful, happy, laughing with Paris Geller and her husband Doyle. Colin and Stephanie, who were as always, close to Logan saw what he had seen as well.

As Paris and Doyle left the other couple to mingle, Logan approached, Colin and Stephanie followed. Tristin had spotted his brother across the hall so he gently steered Rory towards Lucas and Serena who was holding little Matthew with her. There were a few society ladies gushing at the handsome heir of Dugray, commenting on his beautiful green eyes, wavy blonde locks of hair and the genuine smile that crossed the little boy's face.

Rory breathed a small sigh of relief as she followed Tristin across to see his older brother Lucas, sister-in-law Serena and nephew Matthew. It would avoid meeting with Logan for now. The society ladies all greeted Tristin and Rory as they moved into the little group. One of the ladies gushed about the surely beautiful babies that Tristin and Rory would produce when they got married.

Rory, in her mind, rolled her eyes, certainly she and Tristin were dating and happy, but they hadn't discussed marriage or children yet, especially since Tristin had yet to graduate from Stanford, since he was working full time on the movie and TV sets and studying part time. Somehow it was a miracle that none of the Hartford socialites had noticed that Tristin graced the TV screens, though she supposed none of them really watched commercial television. Tristin of course, used a stage name for the television credits, a relic from when he and Charlie had lived in North Carolina. It was better that way, as Tristin's father, Jason would not agree with his son, acting on television or in a movie.

Tristin ever smiling politely behind the society mask complimented Mrs Neilson on her astute observation. Soon though, it looked like Matthew was tiring and Serena and Lucas moved away to give Matthew some time to rest. He would be having a small dinner prepared by the cook for the children, before being put to bed in one of the guest rooms with Serena watching over him, whilst Lucas was obliged to mingle with the businessmen at the party. At least this was better than leaving Matthew at home alone with the nanny by himself.

As the little party broke up, Rory and Tristin wandered towards the bar to get a drink of water. As they approached Rory heard an Australian man laugh and saw a red-headed woman next to him. As the man turned around, she greeted him, "Finn," she said, "it's good to see you."

"Reporter Girl," Finn replied, "it's been a while." He gestured to the red-headed woman sitting next to him, "this is Shauna O'Brien, my girlfriend." Rory greeted the young woman standing next to Finn.

"This is my boyfriend," Rory replied, "Tristin Dugray." Tristin surmised that this was one of Rory's Yale friends. Tristin smiled as he greeted Finn and Shauna in return. The waiter came by with a glasses of drink on a tray, and Tristin grabbed two glasses of water, one for himself, and one for Rory as the man passed by before turning to talk to Finn and Shauna.

Rory proceeded to tell Finn of what had happened since she had graduated Yale, her work on the Obama campaign trail and then with International News, and then how she had met Tristin again and how they had hit it off really well and were now dating. Finn told her of his trip to England, where he had met Shauna, a flaming red-headed beauty in a bar in London, and how they had gone on a few bar-hops and then begun to date properly. Shauna had worked as a travel agent back in London, and was currently on holidays from work, travelling with Finn, which was something they were both passionate about.

"You do know that Logan, Colin and Steph are around as well?" Finn stated.

"Yeah, I do, Finny," Rory replied, "I saw them earlier but didn't have a chance to say hello. Tristin and I wanted to see his nephew Matthew before he became too tired." She saw Colin, Steph, Logan and his date approach.

"Hi Ace," Logan said, as he came to a stop near Finn, Shauna, Rory and Tristin.

"Hi Logan," Rory replied, "Hi Colin," she continued, and then she gave Steph a hug. "This is my boyfriend, Tristin Dugray." She could see the curiosity in Logan's eyes, as to Rory's new boyfriend, mixed with a tinge of hurt that she had moved on from him. But this wasn't about her and Logan's past relationship any more. They were acquaintances, friends, but now, nothing more.

Tristin knew some of these kids, from Hartford parties when they were younger. Certainly, both Logan and Colin, who were slightly older than he was, were regular attendees at the society soirees that his family liked to attend. However, after he had left for military school, he hadn't attended any of the society parties that his parents had liked to attend. However, he was probably missed at those parties. After all, his two older brothers both attended when they were free. Tristin, when he was fourteen and fifteen had been initiated into sub parties by his older brothers when they cared to do so. Then he'd been to a few himself when he was a sophomore and junior at Chilton.

"Finally," Logan said, "someone's been able to lure Tristin Dugray back into the social circuit. No one's seen you at a sub party for years." Although Tristin knew that Logan was an ex-boyfriend of Rory's,

Tristin replied curtly, "I haven't been around Hartford for years." He disliked being around the fake society parties where almost everyone either had an agenda or wanted to create some gossip. "so I haven't had the chance to be at any sub parties." To him it seemed like Rory's friends were still kids, even though they were older than he was. But then, none of them had been through or experienced what Tristin had.

Spotting Charlie and Liz across the room, Rory and Tristin quickly said their goodbyes and headed off to find Tristin's older brother and his girlfriend. It had been a hard couple of months for Tristin's brother and Rory's colleague, adjusting their relationship to fit Charlie's son, Colton Dugray into their busy lives. Sometimes Tristin and Lucas both feared that Charlie and Liz's relationship would break apart, but so far, everything seemed to be okay. Rory and Tristin waved to the other couple and they fell into easy conversation with the other people gathered around them.

Soon, the countdown to the near year began, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero, and as new year came, and the string quartet began to play Auld Lang Syne, Tristin and Rory came out of a breathtaking kiss. As they came out of the kiss, Rory could see Logan's jealous gaze looking at her and Tristin.

Tristin and Rory quietly slipped away from the party and headed home, to the Dugray mansion, where they would be staying overnight before returning to Stars Hollow. Having stayed past midnight and the celebrations, their obligations to the socialites of Hartford was over, and they both looked forward to some sleep before leaving Hartford.

Arriving back at the Dugray mansion, they entered the house through the garage, and Tristin and Rory went to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee to drink whilst Tristin had some juice. "So what was with that jealous stare that Logan Huntzberger gave me back there?" Tristin asked, innocently enough it seemed to people who didn't know him well, but to Rory, it was a loaded question.

"Logan was an ex-boyfriend, as you know," Rory replied, "maybe he just hasn't moved on yet."

"It's been a year and a half now hasn't it? Since you broke up?" Tristin asked.

"Yes, it has," Rory replied, "but we all move on at our own pace."

"He was jealous," Tristin said, as his lips turned upwards into a smirk, "that you truly moved on before he did. And he was jealous that you and I were together."

"I suppose so," Rory replied, "he did propose to me. But I turned him down. I suppose it would take him some time to get over it."

Tristin thanked God that Rory had rejected Logan's proposal, so that Rory was still single when they re-met again. "Wow," Tristin said, "you turned down Logan Huntzberger. Lucky me, now that I have you." He swooped in for a chaste, but electrifying kiss.

Rory replied, "yes, lucky you. But I don't think I was ready for marriage yet when Logan proposed, I had so many dreams left to fulfil, and I wasn't about to change them for him, but now that I'm a bit older, and a bit wiser, sharing a life with the right man feels more right than ever." She had changed since she had broken it off with Logan, some life experiences had led her to re-evaluate her goals. She had grown and some of her dreams had changed, but she was grateful that she had experienced what she had experienced as a result of rejecting Logan's proposal. It had made her a better person.

To Tristin, this sounded like she was ready to take the next step and really commit to being with him for the rest of their lives. A plan began to formulate in his brain as they continued to drink their coffee and juice. Once they finished, Rory and Tristin retired to their rooms. As they retreated upstairs, they heard Lucas and Charlie return from the party along with the rest of the Dugray family. Saying a quick good night to everyone else, Rory and Tristin both entered into their adjoining rooms and fell quickly asleep with each other in their dreams.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_


	10. Young Engineers Convention

**Three Ex Boyfriends Part III - Young Engineers Convention  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
**

Thank You Gilmoregirls1197 and JJsMommy27 for reviewing. Hope you all love this chapter too. Only 2 more to go after this one.

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Rory Gilmore stood in front of a booth at the American Young Engineers Convention, notepad in hand and her boyfriend's business card tucked away safely in her purse. Tristin had gone off to the bathroom and she was waiting for him to return, before proceeding on to the next stall. Tristin himself was just on this one assignment on behalf of his brother Lucas who was at home nursing a sick wife and child. For an important convention such as this, a Dugray was required to attend, to show their goodwill towards the young engineers who would hopefully be future leading engineers and inventors.

He was lucky that she had been between major articles for the newspaper and could afford the couple of days away from her job at International News to accompany him to the American Young Engineers Convention. Usually, his secretary, Martha, an efficient middle aged woman would accompany him on his business trips as his note-take and assistant but she had unfortunately had a slip on the Subway and had badly twisted her ankle, thus requiring bed rest and Tristin couldn't find anyone else that he cared to take on such short notice, so here she was on a working holiday with her boyfriend.

As she waited, she looked around at the stalls that were close by. At one stall, she saw two young men, in front of a car battery, apparently from what she could read, it was supposed to be more efficient and environmentally friendly. One of the men over at that stall looked up, and his eyes met Rory's. Rory thought that the man looked familiar, somehow from her past she guessed, but since she had started full time work, she had met many people.

Suddenly, she heard the man call out her name. She waved back and then, as she looked closer at the man who had called out she remembered, her first boyfriend, her first love, it was Dean Forrester. "Dean," she greeted, as she thought to herself, _boy, this brings back the memories_. She was definitely way over him now, "How are you." she asked, "I mean I'm doing fine, so how are you." She continued to ramble away for half a minute before Dean got a word in edgewise.

"I'm fine," he replied, "just wanted to know what you are doing at the convention. Engineering's not really your thing."

"Oh," she said, "I'm actually working, just filling in for my boyfriend's secretary who sprained her ankle. All very last minute." God, she hoped that Dean was way over her too. She thought she saw a look pass over Dean's face as he processed her answer. She smiled, weakly, it was a bit awkward, she had moved on from him, but didn't know if he'd moved on from her too.

Suddenly, they were both interrupted. Tristin came back and wrapped his arms around Rory's waist, "thanks for waiting, Ror," he said as be brought his gaze up to the stall in front of him. Lucas, his oldest brother had called him to scout the Convention for possible investments, especially in new technology. He couldn't make it, as Serena had a doctor's appointment that weekend. Lucas had said he hoped that it was good news with the gynaecologist. From his quick perusal he seemed to like the idea. Rory, ever picking up on her boyfriend's mannerisms, handed him a business card from her purse as she was holding his business cards for him.

Inwardly, Rory was quite nervous. This could have disaster all written over it. Tristin and Dean had hated each other as teenagers, but she knew that Tristin had matured since his teenage years but sometimes his old self still showed through. Dean, she hadn't seen in a few years. She really didn't want them to revert to their teenage years. She had been stuck between them once, and she didn't fancy being stuck playing peacemaker between them again.

Dean looked downwards at the business card that had been proffered by Rory, it said, Tristin Dugray, Executive Vice President, Dugray Global Industries. Somehow, that name sounded familiar to Dean. He studied Tristin's face, searching his memory for where he had seen the face before.

Tristin looked over this booth at the Convention, intently studying the invention that stood in front of him. After he had finished a scan over the idea and the invention, he turned to Dean, questions in mind. He looked at the young man, about his age, with a brown moustache and beard, and floppy hair of the same colour. The man was also a bit taller than he was. TJ thought that he looked somewhat familiar but he offered his hand out to shake the other's standard business practice for what looked like a possible investment for DGI. He asked, "Mr ..." he realised that he didn't know what the other man's name was.

"Dean Forrester," he heard the reply. He searched his memory for where that name came from. It sounded familiar but he couldn't pick out from where.

Seeing that her boyfriend and her ex were both starting to remember how they known each other before, Rory sighed "Dean's an ex of mine," she said. She'd rather be upfront about it than try to hide. That was when Tristin remembered, who Dean was, the bag boy back from Stars Hollow, Rory's first boyfriend when he was still a young obnoxious teenager. "Bag boy," Tristin quipped, in a quiet voice, before he could stop himself. He swore under his breath as he saw Dean's eyes change in recognition. Rory's eyes widened in horror, hoping that a scene would not take place in public.

Dean saw the man standing with Rory and as he remembered, the snotty, rich teenage brat that he had dubbed the 'Accountant', who had tried to ruin his and Rory's relationship at the time. The brat who had tried to make a scene at Rory's school dance at Chilton, had taunted him when they had done that Romeo and Juliet play. The boy who he knew had a thing for Rory even at sixteen, the boy that Rory had said she had hated. Now, standing in front of him though, was a man, a man who could possibly take Sam and his start-up company and idea and make it into reality.

Tristin realised what he had said and quickly stuck out his hand and began to apologise for his bad quip. The three of them were now adults, not teenagers and any recriminations would be done in private, not in the Convention itself, where it was important to remain professional. Of course, Tristin felt like he had won, after all he now had Rory. And Rory hadn't been overly descriptive about her past relationships after he had left for Cedar Pines. Talking about their pasts wasn't something that they really focused on, though every so often they ran into a big part of their past, it was at that time they would talk.

Rory breathed a sigh of relief as there was no bust-up between Dean and Tristin, at least in public. She heard Tristin say that DGI was interested and that he'd be in contact and send over someone to set up another meeting.

As they left the trade fair, and returned to their shared hotel room, Rory and Tristin shared a coffee. Tristin turned around to Rory as he handed her a cup of steaming coffee. "Wow," he said, "fancy meeting your first bag-boy boyfriend again. He seems to have made a good start for himself thought. Definitely liked his start-up idea."

Rory replied, "I haven't seen him for a few years now. Not since he last broke up with me when I was a sophomore at Yale."

Tristin answered, "you never told me what happened with Dean after I left for military school."

"Actually," Rory said, "Jess happened."

"You mean your step-dad's nephew?" Tristin asked. He had met Lorelai and Luke when they had visited Stars Hollow, and they had talked about her family, and how Luke had played the role of surrogate father for her. And of course, she had mentioned her step-cousin who was a published novelist and who owned a book store in Philadelphia who had almost caused such a big fuss at Luke and Lorelai's wedding.

"Yeah," Rory answered, "Jess and I both shared a passion for literature and we connected in a way that Dean and I couldn't. I ended up kissing him when I was still with Dean. We broke up. I dated Jess for a while and then he left with no explanation." She took a gulp of her coffee. "that's not the end though."

As she caught her breath after inhaling the coffee she continued, "During my first year at Yale, I was actually failing a course and when the Professor suggested that I drop the course, I went into panic mode. I was stressed. Dean meanwhile, had gotten married out of high school to a girl named Lindsay. But he was unhappy in his marriage, I was having a hard time at Yale. One thing led to another and we slept together, we tried to reconcile and our perfect High School world. The recriminations of course, when my mother found out. She sent me off to Europe with Emily for the summer. Once I calmed down, I realised that I had made a mistake..."

"And then..." Tristin asked.

"I sent him a letter through my mother. Lindsay found it in his jacket pocket. Suddenly, I wasn't the town princess, I was the woman who had broken up someone else's marriage."

"That must have been rough," Tristin said.

"It was, half the town hated me, but I was selfish. I wanted that safe feeling back, so Dean and I continued to try to be together but our lives eventually were just too far apart. I was at Yale, he was working to make ends meet. Emily threw a party for me, a Yale male party, and I totally forgot about Dean. When he showed up, we broke up, we knew there was just too much distance between us."

"Well, I don't plan on ever letting you go," Tristin replied, as he gave her a sweet, tender but passionate kiss. As she returned his kiss, Rory knew that Tristin would be the one that would always be with her and that she would always want to be with him

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_


	11. Wedding in the Fall (Tristin's POV)

******Happily Ever After/Wedding in the Fall (Tristin's POV)  
**

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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
**

Thank You Gilmoregirls1197, JJsMommy27 and Realityorfiction for reviewing. This is the second last chapter.

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Tristin Dugray was nervous as he waited in the garden at the Dragonfly Inn. Even though he knew that the love of his life, Rory Gilmore, soon to be Rory Dugray was on her way, and the weather was perfect for their wedding, it was still a big step in his life to be married.

The back garden of the Dragonfly Inn was perfect for today, the leaves in fall that had fallen had been swept away, but the brown of the leaves still on the trees, the green on the grass beneath his feet, the red of the carpet that had been set up in the aisle, and the white of the arch behind him made the perfect picturesque fall wedding scene. The intimate setting of the inn's garden had been what both Tristin and Rory had wanted, nothing too flashy or grand like most other Hartford weddings. For Tristin, the cosiness of the setting eased his nerves a lot, and it was, to him, perfect for his wedding.

He had always dreamed of being married to Rory Gilmore, even when he was sixteen and foolish, and over the past year since he and Rory had re-met, he had dreamed of the small picturesque wedding that they were about to have. Even though she was different to what she had been when they were both sixteen, over the past year he realised that he loved her for who she was now, not the dream that he had chased when he was sixteen. And that the real Rory Gilmore soon to be Dugray was even more satisfying than his sixteen year old dream Mary.

His parents and her grandparents had wanted a big Hartford wedding, as befit their social status, but it wasn't what Rory and Tristin had wanted, so after a little persuasion, Rory and Tristin had agreed to allow them to throw the reception party in Hartford, but the wedding would be as Rory and Tristin envisioned it. As he stood waiting, reflecting on what had occurred and what was to come, he looked over at the crowd that had gathered to celebrate with him, the happiest day of his life so far.

His best man, Colonel Jacob 'Jake' Burns, a Marine that he had known since his time at Cedar Pines military school, stood with next to him, his other grooms-men, his best friend from Stanford, Edward Crossman and one of his fellow cast members from Superspies that he had grown close to, Alex Standish.

He saw his two older brothers, Lucas, with his wife Serena and their little boy Matthew, and Charlie with his son, Cole. His parents sat with them in the front row, his father had a smile on his face which Tristin put down to the connection to the Hayden's that this marriage would bring Dugray Global. His mother, he could see managed a small smile, though he knew she was hiding her distaste for his bride to be purely because Rory wouldn't be beholden to Emma Dugray for patronage at DAR meetings, being the granddaughter of Emily Gilmore. He could see that pregnant Serena was gently rocking Matthew, who was now almost two years old. His five year old nephew, Cole Dugray was reading a book, keeping him quiet whilst he sat next to Tristin's brother Charlie.

Behind his family, a lot of the wealthy Hartford families had come to the wedding. He saw Louise and Madeline, both now married with their rich businessmen husbands, looking like the perfect Hartford trophy wives and quite content with what they had. Otherwise, most of the Hartford elite who had come were all his parents friends. He had lost touch with most of his Chilton 'friends', after he had left for military school, but he was sure that some were in attendance anyway.

A smattering of his friends from Stanford and LA had come to Connecticut to attend his wedding and were staying at the Dragonfly Inn or a hotel in Hartford. Most of his military school 'brothers' had come up from all around the US to attend as well. The Dragonfly Inn was in fact full of guests who were attending the wedding much to Lorelai's delight. Some of his co-stars from Manhattan, the new show that he was joining which filmed in New York, came as well. He could see them chatting away while they were waiting for Rory to arrive.

He looked over at Rory's side of the family, Luke and his daughter April, Rory's half sister, Gigi, and her father Chris. Most of the town of Stars Hollow had turned out for the wedding. Miss Patty, Kirk and Taylor were all in attendance. Paris's husband Doyle with her parents who were chatting away with the Emily and Richard.

He saw Liz, his brother's girlfriend, and one of the bridesmaids start to make her way down the aisle towards the front, followed by his childhood friend Paris and then Rory's best friend, and matron of honour, Lane. And then finally, in a classic white wedding dress, escorted by her mother was Rory. He watched her, mesmerised, as she walked down the aisle. When Rory and Lorelai reached the end of the red carpet, Lorelai handed her off to Tristin. "Take care of her," Lorelai whispered.

"I will," Tristin replied, as Lorelai took her seat. He looked into Rory's eyes through the veil, blue-on-blue seeing the love that they shared. He stood still, now wanting nothing more than the ceremony to be over with, so that he and Rory could be married. It was his dream come true, something that he had wanted ever since he first knew Rory. He tense with anticipation as the reverend began the ceremony.

The reverend began to speak. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today," he said, "to join this man and this woman, in holy matrimony. If anyone here has a legitimate reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." The reverend allowed a small window of silence before continuing.

"Right," he stated, "the couple before us today have written their own vows. They will now recite the vows."

Tristin began to recite his vows, "Rory Gilmore, you are my light, my life, my love. From the very first time that I saw you, I knew that there was something about you that I wanted to cherish forever. You were so honest, so real in the sea of falsehood that surrounded me. When we kissed the first time it was a moment of magic. When we kissed the second time, the magic had not gone away." Tristin saw that Rory's eyes began to mist up. "And through the time we've spent together, I know that the magic will never go away. You are the light of my life, I will love you forever, Rory."

As he finished he slipped the simple gold wedding band that they had chosen onto her ring finger. He saw that Rory looked up, into his eyes, blue matching blue as she began to speak. "When I first met you, I knew there was something about you that made me want to know you more," she continued, "in getting to know you, I found someone who I can share the rest of my life with, someone I love, more than anyone else in the world. We make each other whole." As Tristin listened to Rory speak of her love for him, his heart soared, knowing that they were destined to be together.

As Rory finished, the Reverend began to speak, "then by the power vested in me, by the State of Connecticut, and before God, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Tristin's hands took hold of the veil and lifted it up and, as he stared into her loving eyes, his hands bought her head up towards his own. He saw her love for him, and he bought his lips down towards her own, capturing hers in a swift kiss. Even though the cheers resonated around him, in Tristin's mind they were in another world, alone, just for Rory and himself.

And, as the kiss ended, the Reverend announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Mr and Mrs Tristin Dugray," the end of the Reverend's words were lost in the loud applause and cheering, as the newly-weds began to call family up to the front for photos.

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Eight years later, it was Lorelai Marie Dugray's second birthday and the weekend after her parents eighth wedding anniversary. Last weekend, she and older brother Janlen had spent the weekend with Will and Emily Danes, their half-uncle and half-aunt in Stars Hollow while mummy and daddy had gone away for a weekend. But this weekend it was all about her birthday. The birthday girl sat on her chair in a cute little dress, sipping her cup of milk...or was if coffee or some combination thereof that her mother Rory Dugray had given her? She continued to drink from her sippy cup as she watched the people around her playing in the large garden full of bright green grass.

Little Lorelai Marie or Mary as she liked to be called, watched as her older brother Janlen, who was four and a half, and starting kindergarten soon, play ball with his older cousins Matt and Michael. Like their father, Lucas, both Matt and Michael loved to play basketball. She saw the basketball go up into the air and then into Janlen's hands as he caught the basketball. She saw Janlen throw the basketball back towards Michael.

Little Lorelai Marie swung her eyes towards her eldest cousin, the teenage Cole Dugray, sat strumming away at his guitar with his father, uncle Charlie. Little Mary loved to hear cousin Cole play the guitar. Aunty Lizzie rocked little baby Nessa Dugray gently to the rhythm whilst singing softly to the baby.

Daddy Tristin was manning the barbecue along with Uncle Lucas. The summer sun shone brightly over the picturesque garden which overlooked the bay. Mummy Rory and Aunty Serena were busy filling drinks and tossing creamy potato salad. Like her mummy Rory, little Lorelai Marie did not like greens. Apparently, that was something she inherited from grandma Lorelai.

Soon, the time came for lunch, and the Dugray clan sat and ate lunch, kids and adults chatting, laughing, having fun with one another in the garden of the Dugray house in the Hamptons.

Lorelai Marie ate her food quickly, and sipped some more milk and coffee from her sippy cup. She looked around at everyone at the table, and saw all of the genuine smiles, the genuine caring that everyone in this family had for each other. She was pleased to see daddy Tristin and mummy Rory sit together, and eat together. She saw daddy Tristin feed mummy Rory a piece of steak which she happily ate off his fork.

She saw Uncle Lucas and Aunty Serena, cousin Matthew and Michael eat their food, Aunty Serena telling the boys not to play with their food and to finish their vegetables.

She saw her oldest cousin, Cole hold little baby Nessa, his half-sister allowing Charlie and Liz to eat some food, before Nessa would need to be fed again or be put to bed. She took another sip from her sippy cup.

As lunch finished, little Lorelai Marie saw her birthday cake appear on the table. As everyone sang happy birthday, little Lorelai Marie knew that she was lucky, lucky to have one of the best families in the world. She knew deep down that she was blessed.

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_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
_

_A/N2: The last chapter is actually an AU. Remember back in 'A Dugray Boys Weekend' I mentioned that Tristin's father was actually the second brother and that his elder brother Jon had died. This last oneshot to come is an AU on what if Jon had survived and Tristin's father Jason hadn't become the heir to Dugray Global. It involves Alternate Universe Tristin and Rory meeting for the first time.  
_


	12. A Second First Meeting

******A Second First Meeting (Alternate Universe One-shot)  
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**A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.  
**

Thank You GilmoreGirls1197 for reviewing. This is the last one-shot for this series. It's Alternate Universe. It's a first meeting between Rory and Tristin in this twisted universe where Tristin never went to Chilton (as his immediate family wasn't the uber rich owners of Dugray Global Industries). It's set post season seven so Rory has broken up with Logan and rejected his proposal already.

Anyway, before I present this last one-shot I just wanted to share a few thoughts. Originally, this was intended to be a long-fic, but given my horrible track record with finishing long-fic, I decided to change it into a series of one-shots. As for the pairing, Tristin and Rory are so much like other classic and modern pop culture couples...like Elizabeth/Darcy, Jane/Rochester, Han and Leia, Bastila and Revan, James and Lily, just to mention a few. This type of couple is always fun to read, and fun to play with.

I am taking requests to write more GG one shots, so if you want one, I'll write one for you. Just give me some prompts.

And without further, adieu, this is the last.

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Rory Gilmore sat with her colleague, Liz Parker in the middle of Madison Square Garden. Somehow, Liz had managed to drag Rory out to watch a game of basketball. Given that Rory didn't like sports of any kind, it was a surprise to find that she actually enjoyed it. Liz had been Rory's colleague for about six months after she had started at the International News Tribune and over that time they had formed a good friendship over the daily coffee they had together in the morning. Usually Liz only had one cup of coffee whilst Rory had two or three in the morning.

Liz had managed to score two free tickets from the sports writer at the International News Tribune, and had dragged Rory to go along with her. They were seated amongst the home crowd, with many loud hometown fans around them cheering at the top of their lungs. Rory knew that this was the final game of the championship series, and the two teams were tied at 3 games a piece. Rory had not been concentrating on the scoreboard, but rather looking at the players down on the court, and the people around her but from the reactions of the people around her, she knew that it was a close game.

Currently, she could see a blonde-haired man, the name Dugray emblazoned on the back of his basketball jersey with the basketball in hand, jumping up, with ball in hand, as he went to shoot the ball. Rory had been told by Liz that this man was Lucas 'Dead-eye' Dugray, the shooting guard for the local New York team. The ball came out of the hand and sailed in a long arc towards the hoop.

Rory watched the ball come down, and through the hoop with a swish just as the buzzer went, signalling the end of the game. The crowd around her roared as the final score, 80-79 to the home team blazed up on the screen all around the arena. Next to her, she could hear Liz cheering at the top of her lungs as the home team had just taken out the Championship in game seven.

Confetti rained down onto the court as everyone stood up to cheer. She looked at the jumbo-tron, seeing the camera focus in on the hero of the game, Lucas Dugray, who had sunk the last second three point basket to give New York the championship for the first time in many years.

"Dugray has sunk the winning three-point basket to give New York the victory, and with it the last piece of silverware missing, a championship ring," she heard the commentator announce through the arena. "He's been Olympic gold medallist, MVP but the championship ring has eluded Dugray until tonight."

The camera followed Lucas as he made his way up into the crowd. On the jumbo-tron she saw him make his way up to two other men. "Look," the commentator said, "Dugray's made his way up to his two younger brothers, Charlie and Tristin."

Lucas Dugray was on a high after hitting the championship winning three point shot right on the buzzer. He scrambled up into the crowd to find his two younger brothers, that had always supported him in his basketball career. There were two important people who were missing though, his parents, Jason and Emma Dugray.

The three Dugray brothers had lost their parents not long ago, so it was a very emotional night for them. Their loving parents, Jason and Emma had passed away when they had been broadsided by a truck on their way home. Their funeral had just been held in between the semi-finals where New York had defeated Boston, and this final series. His father's older brother, Jonathan Dugray, the CEO of Dugray Global Industries, had delivered the moving eulogy about Jason Dugray, the US's representative on UNESCO and his work with the less fortunate in Africa, South America and even at home. They had lived in a simple, loving home and his parents had been deeply in love even until death. Lucas knew that both Charlie and Tristin also missed their parents.

Lucas's younger brother, Charlie was following in his father's footsteps, working at the UN to further human rights and the environment. Tristin was a rising star in Hollywood, having been on a successful TV series, and then having a few box office successes. Once he reached his two younger brothers, Lucas gave both Tristin and Charlie a big hug, as the three brothers embraced, tears of joy, and sadness rolled down their faces.

Rory heard the announcer state, as the jumbo-tron zoomed in on the three brothers, "Dugray's made his way to his supporters. Look at the tears flowing down their faces, of joy for the championship won."

The other commentator cut in, "Dugray's parents passed in a tragic accident not long ago. I'm sure there are tears of sadness there too. The work of Jason and Emma Dugray in promoting human rights in developing countries will be sorely missed."

Back in the arena, Lucas was called back down to the floor as the presentation was about to begin. Rory and Liz watched, as the championship rings were handed out for each and every player, coach and support staff in the New York team.

The captain of the New York team, David Carter, came and made a speech, thanking the team, the opponents, the coach and the staff, the sponsors, and lastly the crowd and the people of New York who supported the team throughout the years.

"And now," the announcer said, "we're going to hear from the player of this final series, Lucas Dugray." The stadium erupted into a mass of cheers as the MVP and the hero of the team made his way down to the podium to speak.

_This is a great honour to be able to address the faithful supporters of New York. I'd like to thank my team mates, the coaching staff and our support staff, thanks for making this a successful year. It's been a dream year for the team and I hope we can continue our success next season. I'd like to thank our opponents, for a great series, nothing separated our teams over seven games. I'd like to thank the sponsors of the NBA, and our team sponsors, without your financial support, there would be no game for everyone to watch, and for us all to compete in._

The mass of cheers continued through Madison Square Garden, as Lucas continued to speak. On the jumbo-tron the crowd could see that Lucas was struggling to hold back tears.

_I'd like to thank Serena, my wife, who has supported me since I played college basketball. You are the light of my life. I'd like to thank my uncle Jonathan, my aunt Evelyn, and my cousins, Joshua and Daniel. _

_I dedicate this win to the four people that have supported me in my basketball career, ever since I was little. To Charlie and Tristin, my two younger brothers, you've been here to support me through every match from when I played, from when I was in primary school, all the way until today. _

The crowd's cheers silenced as they knew what was coming next. The audience all waited in anticipation. The whole arena became silent.

_I dedicate this win to my parents, Jason and Emma Dugray, who unfortunately, are no longer with us here. Mum and Dad have always been there with me, they encouraged me to pick up the basketball when I was only five and I've been playing ever since. I miss my parents every day, but I know that they would want me to continue living life to the fullest._

Rory, sitting in the crowd watched her body taut, as Lucas Dugray poured his heart out to the country. She had to dab at a stray tear falling down her face, such was the emotion moving behind those words.

_I'd like to thank everyone for attending today and for supporting me, and supporting the team. Thank You. Let's celebrate our win, New York._

The cheers and applause reverberated around the arena as Lucas and David hoisted the championship trophy up high. The roar of the sound echoed throughout the arena and out into the night. Rory and Liz cheered as loud as they could.

As they celebrations at the arena ended, Liz and Rory made their way out of the packed arena. Liz and Rory peeled off from the crowd to join the queue for the ladies toilets, which was packed with patrons who were leaving.

Rory waited for Liz outside the toilets, as she had finished first and there were still many ladies in the queue for the toilets. Finally, Liz came out of the toilet and Rory and Liz started to make their way out of the arena.

"Didn't you have a great time today," Liz asked as they walked.

"Yeah, I did," Rory replied, "never knew that sports could be so interesting to watch." They continued to walk towards the exit, with the rest of the crowd around them. Rounding a corner while still conversing with Liz, suddenly, Rory found herself off balance and falling as she bumped into something solid.

Two strong arms held her up as she felt herself lose her balance. She looked up at her rescuer, as their eyes met, blue on blue. She felt herself blush slightly as she looked at the man who had held her up. His short tousled blonde hair and features marked him to be a good looking man.

"Thank you," she said, as she righted herself, "thanks for saving me from falling."

"Anything for a beautiful lady," she heard the man reply, a small smile playing across his features. "And may I know your name?"

Beside her, she heard Liz gasp for a reason unknown to Rory. Rory considered the question before answering, "I'm Rory Gilmore."

"Nice to meet you, Rory Gilmore," the man replied, "I'm Tristin Dugray..."

* * *

_A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.  
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_The End._


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